36 EXCURSIONS IN MADEIRA 



silky fibres, forming large masses around the roots, may probably 

 be the plant feto hrun (brown fern), reported by Vandelli to 

 Murphy, and mistaken for a fern. I could not even hear of this 

 fern, which, he says, is only found in Madeira, and produces fibres 

 of so fine a texture on the back of its fronds, that they may be 

 woven into a beautiful material for clothing. Here I had an op- 

 portunity of remarking, that it is the Norway rat, (mus decumamis,) 

 which inhabits the interior of the island, although it only arrived 

 in Europe in the eighteenth century s; and, that the bat is more 

 than specifically distinct from all those which have, as yet, been 

 described, for it has four pointed incisors above (two by the side 

 of each canine, with a large interval between), and six small incisors 

 below, with three indentations in each. It forms a new sub-genus 

 between pharopus and cephalotes, and may be named, nyctahis 

 verrucosus^. 



As I approached the heights which conduct to the brink of the 

 Coural, the chesnut-trees formed entire woods, and presented the 

 richest autumnal tints ; the salix rubra, and a great variety of 

 plants margined the streams, over which waved a beautiful fern, 

 frequently six feet in length ; the asperula aparine attached itself 

 to my clothes as I walked along, the violets abounded on the 

 banks, and the splendid bella donna hly' presented itself in various 



8 Cuvier, Rcgne Animal, t. I. p. 197. 



^ Ni'XTaXos-, noctem amans. Suid : de Diogen. Cyn. The lower canines have a 

 heel. The muzzle and oreillettes are simple ; the ears are equal to the depth of the 

 head in length, and present clusters of orange warts on the outer part, and a few 

 within. It has a nail, and extra joint to the forefinger; three joints to the middle 

 finger, two to the others. The interfemoral membrane (not notched, but triangular^ 

 reaches to within one line of the end of the tail, which is within it :— width, from 

 the tip of one wing to the other, llf in., from the muzzle to the tip of the tail 4^ in., 

 colour, dusky brown. 



' Lilium Madeirense. Calyce campanulato, laciniis subrectis basi subconniven- 

 tibus, sulco longitudinali, nectarifero nudo. Staminibus 6, filamentibus ineequalibus. 



