44 HUMMING BIRDS. [chap. 



streamlets of clear water. Sitting down on a block 

 granite, it was delightful to watch the various insects anc 

 birds as they flew past. The humming-bird seems particu- 

 larly fond of such shady, retired spots. Whenever I saw 

 these little creatures buzzing round a flower, with their 

 wings vibrating so rapidly as to be scarcely visible, I 

 was reminded of the sphinx moths : their movements and 

 habits are indeed in many respects very similar. 



Following a pathway, I entered a noble forest, and from 

 a height of five or six hundred feet, one of those splendid 

 views was presented, which are so common on every side 

 of Rio. At this elevation the landscape attains its most 

 brilliant tint; ^nd every form, every shade, so completely 

 surpasses in magnificence all that the European has ever 

 beheld in his own country, that he knows not how to 

 express his feelings. The general effect frequently recalled 

 to my mind the gayest scenery of the Opera house or the 

 great theatres. I never returned from these excursions 

 empty handed. This day I found a specimen of a curious 

 fungus, called Hymenophallus. 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 Strongylus, attracted by the odour, alighted 

 on the fungus as I carried it in my hand. We here see 

 in two distant countries a similar relation between plants 

 and insects of the same families, though the species of 

 both are different. When man is the agent in introducing 

 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 

 Rio are untouched. 



During our stay at Brazil I made a large collection of 

 insects. A few general observations on the comparative 

 importance 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 habits of Papilio 

 \feronia. This butterfly is not uncommon, and generally 



