RELATION BETWEEN CLIMATE AND VEGETATION. H5 



to the south-west, and a few sand-hills towards the sea, it is one 

 continued sandj' plain, covered with Caryiahuha Palms ( Corypha 

 cerifera. Mart.), but nothing else worthy the name of a tree. 

 This palm is one of the most elegant of its size I have met with. 

 Its stem, wliich is quite straight, rises to a height of about forty 

 feet, while its fan-shaped leaves are so arranged as to form a sort 

 of round ball at the sunnnit. It exists in vast quantities, the 

 first part of the road from Aracaty to led, a town about 200 

 miles inland, passing through a dense forest of it, more than 20 

 leagues in length, its foliage sheltering a great multitude of 

 parrots, parrokeets, pigeons, woodpeckers, and hosts of other 

 small birds. At this place I was obliged to remain for about a 

 fortnight to make arrangements for my journey, and during that 

 time I made a few short excursions, but did not meet with much 

 to reward me. A few species of Cassia, Jussieua, Herpestis, a 

 Zizyphus, a few Mimosce, a Patagonula, two or three species 

 of Turnera, Angelonia arguta, Benth., and a few other plants, 

 Mere all I met with. The rainy season was just over, and the 

 vegetation was already much burned up by the drought, I 

 reached the town of Icc5 in eight days. For the first two-thirds 

 of the way the country is level ; but the rest is undulating, and 

 sometimes rocky, from being traversed by several small serras. 

 In this latter part much of it consists of large open tracts, called 

 Vargems, which in the dry season are nearly destitute of vege- 

 tation, forming true deserts, while others are covered with Ca~ 

 tinga forests, similar to those which exist on the banks of the 

 Rio de San Francisco, nearly all the trees in which, when I 

 passed through them, were destitute of leaves. On this journey 

 I collected the following plants : — Two new species of Angelo- 

 nia, A. arguta, Benth., and A. hijiora, Benth. The latter is a 

 very handsome species, and is now in cultivation in England, 

 having been raised by Mr. Murray of Glasgow, from seeds sent 

 home by me. It is known among cultivators by the name of A. 

 grandijiora. It grew in great masses on the sandy banks of a 

 small river, and, being in full flower, was a most beautiful ob- 

 ject. In moist sandy places grew a very fine Herpestis, about a 

 foot high, with rose-coloured flowers ; and in gravelly places on 

 the open campos a beautiful Evolvulus, also about a foot high, 

 very much resembling Linum usitatissimum in the arrangement, 

 size, and colour of its flowers : a few small strong- smelling spe- 

 cies of Pedis grew in similar situations. On the rocky ridges, 

 which consisted of gneiss cropping out nearly vertically, grew a 

 few species o^ Opuntia and Cereus, the curious Pithecoseris pa~ 

 courinoides. Mart., and a fine shrubby Vernonia,. In dry sandy 

 places I found a few small Composites, among them a new spe- 

 cies of Stiftnopappus. The only trees in flower were Sapindus 



VOL. III. li 



