AND PORTO SANTO. 37 



directions, raising its bright pink blossoms, which formed a beauti- 

 ful contrast to its dark-coloured stem ; this last plant especially 

 contributed to give the landscape the appearance of a ruined 

 garden. I gathered several fungi amongst the thick turf; one of 

 them was the common mushroom, but I did not hear of its being 

 eaten, and my guides expressed great alarm at my touching any 

 of them. The agaricus found amongst the chesnut-trees, grows 

 to an enormous size ; and another in the same locahty answered 

 to the description of the a. aurantius, or the jaseron of the French. 

 The most remarkable, was one with a pale yellowish bark, wrinkled, 

 and full of small warts ; it had no stem above ground, nor did it 

 appear to have a volva : when divided, the inner part was greasy 

 and firm, and of a deep black ; the peasantry beheve it to be a 

 dreadful poison, even to the touch ''. The clavaria grows to a large 

 size, and is very abundant ; it does not confine itself to laurels alone, 

 but appears also on the chesnuts, or perhaps, any large tree. 



Having reached almost the highest part of the road within view, 

 and being 3700 feft above the sea, you turn to the right, and 

 walking over a gentle ascent of thick turf, covered with broom 

 bushes, (on which the waving bags of a small spider are thickly 

 suspended), the feet are in an instant arrested, with an involuntary 

 shudder, and you tremble with surprise and awful admiration on 

 the brink of a tremendous precipice, 1634 feet deep. The basaltic 



imis laciniis calyciiiis insertis, antheris striatis, arcuatis, capsula trigona, trivalvis 

 (duse saepe abortivee,) polysperma. Seminibus planibus, caule nudo compresso. 

 spatha 2 phylla. Foliis radicalibus deciduis. Floribus corymbosis roseis. This 

 plant has been figured in Curtis's Magazine, as the amaryllis bella donna. I'he posi- 

 tion of the germen is alone sufficient for me to place it in the genus lilium, and 

 without this generic difference, the seeds being without wings would make it a dis- 

 tinct species. Great doubts have been entertained as to its native country, and it has 

 been successively given to the East Indies, Africa, N. America, and Brazil. It has 

 already been introduced into England, but lost several times. 



''Genus. Globus nudus, sessilis, verrucosus, coriaceus, intus carnosus, com- 



pactus, pinguis, ater. Fructif. ignota. 



