Floral Fly-traps — Mines of Brillador, 93 



case of our colliding with a flock of half-a-dozen or so, something 

 unpleasant must surely happen. This was not a cheering subject 

 of thought, so I turned away from the window and tried to 

 interest myself in the contents of a Chilian newspaper. A few days 

 previously, I heard that a single bullock had been met with on 

 this same incline, and had been satisfactorily accounted for by the 

 "cow-catcher." The body was smashed to pieces and thrown off 

 the track, but the people in the train (one of whom was my 

 informant) experienced only a very slight shock. At Llallai station 

 we stopped for breakfast, for which the cold air of the morning 

 had sufficiently prepared us, and in the afternoon we arrived 

 comfortably at Valparaiso. 



We again stayed at Coquimbo from the 23 rd to the 30th of 

 August, having been obliged to return there on account of a 

 court-martial. The appearance of the country had changed very 

 much since our previous visit. Bare tracts of sand had given 

 place to an uniform coating of verdure, and a great variety of 

 flowering plants were visible in full bloom. There was a species 

 of Aristolochia very common on the rocky hills, whose large 

 pitcher-shaped perianth frequently imprisoned a number of flies 

 of different species, and I found that I could add materially to 

 my entomological collection by examining these plants, and 

 despoiling them of their living prey, for most of the pitchers 

 contained living flies, and some of them the remains of insects 

 apparently in a half-digested state. This flower constitutes a 

 very effectual fly-trap ; and I once noticed a great bluebottle- 

 fly endeavouring in vain to work his way over the " chevaux- 

 de-frise " of white hairs, which, with their ends pointing inwards, 

 studded the interior of the tube. 



During this stay I made a trip to the copper mines of 

 Brillador, which are worked in connection with the smelting 

 houses at Compafiia. Both establishments are the property 

 of Mr. Lambert, an English gentleman residing at Swansea, 

 whose Chilian manager is Mr. Weir, to whom I have already 



