XXXVll 



to spring, moved its head and thorax backwards, so that the 

 pectoral spine was drawn out, and rested on the edge of its sheath. 

 The same backward movement being continued, the spine, by the 

 full action of the muscles, was bent like a spring ; and the insect 

 at this moment rested on the extremity of its head and wing-cases. 

 The effort being suddenly relaxed, the head and thorax flew up, 

 and in consequence the base of the wing-cases struck the sup- 

 porting surface with such force that the insect, by the reaction, 

 was jerked upwards to the height of one or two inches. The 

 projecting points of the thorax and the sheath of the spine 

 served to steady the whole body during the spring. In the 

 descriptions which I have read sufficient stress does not appear 

 to have been laid on the elasticity of the spine ; so sudden 

 a spring could not be the result of simple muscular contraction 

 without the aid of some mechanical contrivance." 



Whilst at Eio during the summer of 1832 a visit to the forest 

 is thus mentioned : — " This day I found a specimen of a curious 

 fungus called Hymenojyhallus. Most people know the English 

 Phallus, which in autumn taints the air with its odious smell ; 

 this, however, as the entomologist is aware, is to some of our 

 beetles a delightful fragrance. So was it here, for a Strongijlus, 

 attracted by the odour, alighted on the fungus as I carried it in 

 my hand. We here see in two distant countries a similar rela- 

 tion between plants and insects of the same families, though the 

 species of both are different. When man is the agent in intro- 

 ducing into a country a new species, this relation is often broken ; 

 as one instance of this I may mention that the leaves of the 

 cabbages and lettuces, which in England afford food to such a 

 multitude of slugs and caterpillars, in the gardens near Eio are 

 untouched. 



"During our stay at Brazil I made a large collection of 

 insects. A few general observations on the comparative im- 

 portance of the different orders may be interesting to the English 

 entomologist. The large and brilliantly-coloured Lepidoptera 

 bespeak the zone they inhabit far more plainly than any other 

 race of animals. I allude only to the butterflies, for the moths, 

 contrary to what might have been expected from the rankness of 

 the vegetation, certainly appeared in much fewer numbers than 

 in our own temperate regions. I was much surprised at the 



