THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE 43 



tore* tarring rotmd a flower, with their wings vibrating so 

 rapidly as to be scarcely risible, I was reminded of die 

 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; and every form, every shade, so completely 

 surpasses in magnificence all that the European has ever 

 beheld in his own country, that be knows not how to ex- 

 press 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 HymenophaUns. Most people know the Eng- 

 lish 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 Strongyras, attracted by the odour, alighted on the fun- 

 gus 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 cater- 

 pillars, 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 im- 

 portance of the different orders may be interesting to die 

 English entomologist. The large and brilliantly coloured 

 Lepidoptera bespeak the zone diey inhabit, far more plainly 

 than any other race of arr**ai* I allude only to the butter- 

 flies; for the moths, contrary to what might have been 

 expected from die rankness of the vegetation, certainly ap- 

 peared in much fewer numbers dian in our own temperate 

 regions. I was much surprised at die habits of Papilio f ero- 

 nia. This butterfly is not uncommon, and generally frequents 

 die orange-groves. Although a high flier, yet it very fre- 



