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the coverlet with its masses of yellow and crimson. This 

 nettle is a very different affair from our English one. 

 Its leaves somewhat resemble those of the Scotch thistle, 

 but the stem and core of the leaves are covered with 

 exceedingly fine and sharp needle-like points ; the flower 

 is of the size of a shilling, of a most vivid yellow with an 

 intense crimson eye, and white-tipped stamens. Alto- 

 gether it forms at once the most beautiful and most 

 common object of these rock-bound shores. 



On some sandy plains near here I found two very 

 curious kinds of beetles; one, called vacita (little cow), 

 springs up from beneath the sand, like a plant, in the 

 summer, and covers the ground in astonishing numbers ; 

 on the first appearance of cold they die and go — no one 

 knows where. You may dig down some feet just before 

 the time they arrive and never see one, and yet in a few 

 days the whole plain will be black with them. They are 

 about an inch long, and striped black and white. The 

 other kind frequents the cactus plants in great numbers ; 

 it is along brown insect, very difficult to see or approach ; 

 on being disturbed it flies off to the next cactus with 

 astonishing rapidity, at the same time when flying emit- 

 ting a very peculiar noise, exactly resembling the sound 

 made by a ratchet. Under the wings, on the side of the 

 body, are four or five ridges, which evidently correspond 

 to the teeth of the wheel, but I never could discover with 

 what the insect scratched them to produce the sound. A 

 remarkable bird, the tapacola, or '' cover-your-tail,^^ was 

 abundant here ; it frequents the rocks on the sea coast, 

 hopping from point to point, emitting its peculiar cry, 

 and bobbing up and down its tail in an extraordinary 

 manner; it sometimes imitates the laugh of a. child so 

 exactly as to deceive the most practised ear. Another 



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