92 Mr. T. V. Wollaston on certain Coleoptera 



which had lost its colour, and two lizards*. There were several 

 spiders and bugs ; locusts also frequented by hundreds the most 

 sterile and dusty places, and skipped about as if their land was 

 the best and happiest in the world. Of birds, I saw the Egyp- 

 tian Vulture, and a brown Eagle with a wedge-shaped tail ; also 

 a few Guinea-fowl, and (as I was told) some Quail. I saw a flock 

 of about eight Crows, like the common Corvus corone ; likewise 

 two Swallows {Hirundo rustica), which seemed rather larger than 

 their brethren in England; and a brown-looking Warbler, about 

 the size and shape of a robin. I could find no land Mollusca. 

 The colours of the animals are, on the whole, sober, and harmo- 

 nize much more with the desolate appearance of the island than 

 with the gaudy colouring which usually obtains in the tropics." 



Fam. Cicindelidae. 

 Genus Cicindela. 

 Linnaus, Syst. Nat. ii. 657 (1767). 

 1. Cicindela Hesperidum, n. sp. 

 C. angustula, capita prothoraceque Isete viridescenti- cuprescenti- et 

 senescenti-variegatis ; labro mandibularumque basi dilute testaceis, 

 illo brevi antice truncate et dente medio minutissimo armato ; 

 oculis intus subangulatim emarginatis ; elytris obscurioribus, ru- 

 gose granulatis, lunula humerali apicalique necnon punctis qua- 

 tuor (duobus anterioribus confluentibus) testaceis ornatis, ad api- 

 cem distincte serratis et singulatim leviter rotundatis, sutura (et 

 etiam circa scutellum) elevata. 

 Long. Corp. lin. 4-5|^. 



Obs. Species C. littorali affinis, sed ccrte distincta ; minor, 



this statement, and that perhaps a hzard's skin, of large dimensions, might 

 have been mistaken for that of a snake. I therefore wrote lately to Mr. 

 Ilutton about it again, and have received from him a note, in which he 

 says : " I think there can be no doubt that I found part of the cast 

 skin of a snake, for I know them well ; it was about a foot long, split up 

 as you always see them, and colourless, or nearly so." 



* Lizards abound in most of these Atlantic islands ; in Madeira they 

 absolutely teem, tenanting even the small adjacent rocks. In the Canarian 

 group they are less common, though quite universal. Mr. Darwin, in his 

 ' Journal of Researches,' calls special attention to the abundance of lizards 

 on nearly all oceanic islands. In the central portion of the Galapagos 

 Archipelago, the large Amblyrhynchus Demarlii would seem to be a com- 

 plete nuisance, — so much so, that it was difficult to find a place free from 

 its burrows to pitch a tent in. Mr. Darwin gives a graphic account of these 

 sluggish stupid creatures, and describes their modus operandi in forming 

 their holes. " I watched one," says he, " for a long time, until half its 

 body was buried ; I then walked up and pulled it by the tail : at this it was 

 greatly astonished, and soon shuffled up to see what was the matter ; and 

 then stared me in the face, as much as to sav, ' What made vou pull my 



tail?'" ' y i y 



