58 SANTAREM. Chap. I. 



belonging to the same genus, hop about the grass, en- 

 livening the place with a few musical notes. The 

 Carashue (Mimus) also then resumes its mellow, black- 

 bird-like song ; and two or three species of humming- 

 bird, none of which however are peculiar to the 

 district, flit about from tree to tree. On the other 

 hand, the little blue and yellow-striped lizards, which 

 abound amongst the herbage during the scorching 

 heats of midday, retreat towards this hour to their 

 hiding-places ; together with the day-flying insects and 

 the numerous campo butterflies. Some of these latter 

 resemble greatly our English species found in heathy 

 places, namely, a fritillary, Argynnis (Euptoieta) He- 

 gesia, and two smaller kinds, which are deceptively 

 like the little Nemeobius Lucina. After sunset the 

 air becomes delightfully cool and fragrant with fruits 

 and flowers. The nocturnal animals then come forth. 

 A monstrous hairy spider, five inches in expanse 

 (Mygale Blondii), of a brown colour with yellowish 

 lines along its stout legs — which is very common 

 here, inhabiting broad tubular galleries smoothly lined 

 with silken web — may be then caught on the watch at 

 the mouth of its burrow. It is only seen at night, 

 and I think does not wander far from its den ; the 

 gallery is about two inches in diameter, and runs in 

 a slanting direction, about two feet from the surface 

 of the soil. As soon as it is night, swarms of goat- 

 suckers suddenly make their appearance, wheeling 

 about in a noiseless, ghostly manner, in chase of night- 

 flying insects. They sometimes descend and settle on 

 a low branch, or even on the pathway close to where 





