AupLst 1 8, 1887] 



NATURE 



367 



in them had been specially aroused by seeing a house-fly, which 

 liad previously narrowly escaped capture, swoop down on his 

 mortal enemy and touch him on the back with his claws (as 

 though twitting him on his failure), the spider apparently taking 

 no notice whatever. On seeing, therefore, one of these spiders 

 stalking a small moth on my wall in Cape Coast Castle, I devoted 

 my attention to the operation. 



A fter moving off several times the moth at length settled on the 

 ceiling, and I thought the chase was over. The spider, however, 

 followed on to the ceiling, and approaching within striking 

 distance (about two inches) anchored his web ; then moving round 

 in a circle from the moth until he was about equi-distant from 

 his anchor and his prey, he made his spring. He had evidently 

 calculated how much loose web he would require to reach his 

 prey, for when he fell (as was inevitable from the force of gravity) 

 he was suspended in mid-air by the loose web. The spider re- 

 gained the ceiling by his own web, having narrowly missed a 

 good meal. C. B. Lystkr. 



19 Waterloo Crescent, Dover, August 12. 



The Lunar Eclipse of August 3. 



It would be interesting to know if the following phenomenon 

 was observed at other places. At 9.30 p.m., local time, at 

 Hamburg, a small cumulus cloud was observed a little distance 

 below the moon, and the darkened part of the lunar surface was 

 taken to be part of the cloud, from its upper edge being flat- 

 tened. Ten minutes later the cloud had passed away, but the 



# 



^ ketch of Lunar Eclipse of Wednesday, August 3, i£ 

 Hamburg). 



(as observed at 



flattened appearance on the moon remained, and it was evident 

 that the earth's shadow was distorted, as seen in the annexed 

 -ketch. Several persons noted the peculiarity, which was visible 



\\\\ about 10.30 p.m. in a very clear sky. H. H. 



August 8. 



BOTANY OF SAN DOMINGO. 



rHE vegetation of this, the largest of the West India 

 Islands next to Cuba, has long been almost totally 

 iuknown to botanists. The absence of all but the 

 scantiest data about its flora has made any general con- 

 clusions as to the main facts of the geographical distri- 

 bution of plants in the West Indies very uncertain. It 

 has usually been supposed that any attempt to explore 

 any part of the island botanically would present almost 

 insuperable difficulties. The following extracts from a 

 letter from San Domingo received at Kew from Baron 

 Eggers, who has laboured so assiduously in the investiga- 

 tion of West Indian botany, will be read therefore with 

 much interest. W. T. Thiselton Dyer. 



Puerto Plata, Sto. Domingo, July 11, 1S87. 

 I HAVE now been about three months in this island. I 

 arrived in Samana on April 14, and the following day in this 

 place. After having spent a couple of weeks in exploring the 



lower mountains here (2600 feet), I proceeded to Santiago, 

 where again I spent some time in exploring the Vega 

 Real and the Monte Christi range. From Santiago I 

 went further into the interior to Jarabocon and the 

 Valle de Constanga (3860 feet), from where I made an ex- 

 pedition up to the highest peaks I could find (Pico del 

 Valle, 8680 feet), and which I succeeded in climbing, 

 though with considerable hardship and fatigue. From 

 this Sierra I returned to Santiago, and from thence to 

 Puerto Plata, where I have latterly been exploring the 

 region to the east towards the rivers Yasica and Jamao. 



This, in short, is an outline of my travels here. I have 

 been so far very fortunate, as I have succeeded in pene- 

 trating to regions where no European seems ever to have 

 been before: my collections are very rich — about 1200 

 species — and my health has not suffered from the rather 

 hard life here. 



This island is, to a considerable extent, in a state of 

 uncivilization : the roads are frightfid, and hardly deserve 

 that name ; in fact, there is not one single good road in 

 the whole island. You could hardly believe that the 

 principal road from Santiago to Puerto Plata; on which 

 the greater part of the traffic of the island goes, in 

 the rainy season is impassable often for weeks. With 

 regard to the vegetation, it does not strike me as being 

 very luxuriant. It is much less so than I expected, and 

 is certainly less luxuriant than that of Dominica. 



The Cacti, which are a good criterion with respect to 

 dryness of climate, are seen very frequently in the Veja 

 by Santiago ; higher up, the mountains in the interior are 

 covered with pine forests to an immense extent. There 

 the soil is gravelly and rather sterile. I found the pine 

 growing from 600 feet up to the very highest peaks. The 

 Sierra and Monte Christi, a coast range, consists of 

 Tertiary limestone, and has no pines at all. But here 

 you find also Cacti, Acacias, and Agaves not unfre- 

 quently. Palms are comparatively scarce— only about 

 six or seven species are \LX).o\sr\.(^Oreo(ioxa, Sabal, Thrinax, 

 Euterpe, and one called " Yarey " here, which I believe is 

 a species of Thrinax), comparatively few Orchtdece, and 

 no Cycadece at all. I believe in the south, near San 

 Domingo, there is a Zainia ; and, on the whole, the 

 eastern part of the island is more moist, especially near 

 Samana Bay and along the river. 



Of remarkable plants I have found here a Clavija, 

 which seems to be known only from Trinidad among the 

 West India Islands, Phyllocoryne jmnaiceiisis, a Stan- 

 hopea or Lcelia, and several tree ferns. In the high 

 mountains, of course, I found a greater number of inter- 

 esting species : several Tupa:,X.\so Ericacece,\yio Fuchsias, 

 of which one has a most beautiful large pendulous tlower, 

 Ranunculacece, Ferns, Loranthus, and others which of 

 course were all unknown there. The Juglans cinerea 

 grows here at a height of about 1800 feet ; I obtained a 

 number of seeds. 



Among Coniferce I should especially mention a splendid 

 Taxodium, the wood of which is dark red and very 

 odorous. It is called Sabium here. 



The Cacii are, no doubt, very rich and interesting, but 

 as they require to be preserved in alcohol, and the means 

 of transport are so very difficult, I have not made any 

 collections of them this time. The beautiful Rudolphia 

 rosea grows from the coast up to 4000 feet. 



On the stems of the pines a number of curious Brome- 

 liads are growing, none, however, very conspicuous ; at 

 about 1000 feet a bulbous Oxalis with white flowers is 

 found, commonly among the pines in the sandy soil. A 

 number of herbaceous Synantherea were found among 

 grasses in the upper regions above 7000 feet. 



The Podocarpus of Jamaica I did not see here at all 

 A number of beautiful Echites are found in the lowlands, 

 as well as some striking Orchids {Bletta, Licliopsis) ; also 

 two remarkable Coccolobas, the immense-leaved C. 

 macrophylla, and another species with somewhat lesser 



