44 CAPE VERDE. 



sand-crabs breathe air through an aperture placed between the 

 bases of the third and fourth pairs of walking legs, and leading 

 to the gill chamber. They soon die when kept for a short 

 time beneath the water, as shown by Fritz Muller's experi- 

 ments. * 



A lizard (a gecko) is very common both at St. A^incent 

 and San Jago. It appears to be the Tarentola Delalandii of 

 Madeira, or closely allied to this. 



A beetle, a species of Cicindela, is very common on the dry 

 sand along the seashore, and is very difficult to catch. The 

 beetles sit five or six together on the sand, and fly off before 

 the wind directly they are approached. They are so quick 

 that I could not catch them with my net. I found, however, 

 that if a handful of sand were thrown at them, they seemed 

 paralyzed for a few moments, and could be picked up with the 

 hand. 



Most of the insects on the island are to be found amongst 

 the clumps of tamarisk. An Ant-lion {Myrmekon) is very 

 common, making pitfalls for the ants under the lee of all the 

 tamarisk bushes. Spiders are abundant. A large and hand- 

 some yellow spider {Nephila), makes large webs of yellow silk 

 everywhere amongst the bushes. The silk is remarkably strong, 

 and the supporting threads of the web often bend the tips of 

 the tamarisk twigs, to which they are fastened, right down. 

 Either the spider drags on the thread and bends the twig, or the 

 twig becomes bent in growing, after being made fast to. The 

 result is that the thread is kept tense, although yielding to the 

 wind. 



I ascended one day one of the steep slopes on the north-east 

 side of the town, on the leeward side of the encircling range of 

 the island. It was terribly hot and parchingly dry, but the 

 instant the summit was reached, the refreshing trade wind was 

 felt in full force, and its influence was everywhere seen in the 

 increased vegetation, and wherever it lapped over the crest, or 

 crept through a gully, green tufts marked its range. 



I climbed a peak about 850 feet in altitude, from which there 

 was a comprehensive view of the island, showing well the 

 general outward dip of the strata composing the encircling 

 range. In the distance was the irregular mountainous outline 

 of the island of St. Antonio, which was blue and hazy-looking, 

 with a line of white clouds hanging against it at a height of 

 about 2,000 feet. How I longed to be at the summit of the 

 principal mountain, 7,000 feet high, to see the European wild 

 thyme growing there far above the Atlantic and African plants ! 



* " Facts and Arguments for Darwin," p. 33. London, John Murray, 

 1860. 



