468 Information respecting Botanical Travellers. 



cies of Trigofiia, and, particularly among the lesser trees by the 

 bank of the river, a Combretum, with large clusters of small pale 

 yellow and highly scented flowers. 



On first entering this wood I was peculiarly struck by the dif- 

 ference of its general aspect from those of the same kind about 

 Rio. Here everything betokened a dryer atmosphere and more arid 

 soil. No ferns, Begonia, Piperacece, or orchideseous plants could be 

 seen. On the stems and branches of the larger trees a few Brome- 

 liacece and Aroidece alone existed. 



The Rev. Mr. Austin, the English clergyman here, having told me 

 of a curious plant which grew in bushy places a few miles beyond 

 his house, and kindly promised to accompany me thither, I started 

 early with him one morning to procure some of it. On reaching the 

 place where it grows, about ten miles west from Receife, I found it 

 to be a noble Epidendrum, with stems more than 6 feet high, desti- 

 tute of leaves at top, and bearing large corymbs of fine red flowers. 

 It will probably prove to be Epidendrum cinnabarinum of Saltzman, 

 first found by that botanist at Bahia. Whilst collecting specimens 

 of a small leguminous plant, growing near the Epidendrum, I observed 

 on the ground, under the shade of some low shrubs, another orchi- 

 deous plant in flower; a new species of Monachanthus, differing 

 from the one on which the genus was founded (M. viridis, Lindl.) 

 in its 3-lobed fringed labellum. The pseudo-bulbs are about 6 inches 

 long, and its flowering stem rises to the height of about 15 inches, 

 bearing nine greenish-yellow flowers. Though I made a diligent 

 search, I could find but one specimen. Near this place I collected 

 Stachytarpheta prismatica, and a Pteris about the size of P. aquilina, 

 which appears to be a troublesome weed in cultivated ground. 



About sixteen or eighteen miles west from Pernambuco there is a 

 German colony. It was first settled about ten or twelve years since, 

 at the breaking up of a German regiment which had long been in 

 the service of the Brazilian government here. The colonists gain 

 their livelihood principally by making charcoal. It is called Catuca. 

 Being desirous of spending a day or two at this place, I started early 

 one morning in the beginning of November, accompanied by a young 

 Englishman with whom I had first made acquaintance in the Organ 

 Mountains, and guided by two Germans who were returning thither 

 from Pernambuco, whose horses carried our luggage. The route for 

 about two hours lay through a flat country, principally planted with 

 Mandiocia, though a great part was still uncleared ; the larger trees 

 only having been cut down, and some of these yet remaining and 

 rising high above their fellows of the wood. After passing the cul- 



