3552 The Zoologist— June, 1873. 



of the fact that its exterior petals were striped with dark red, the 

 blossom was about the size and tint of an evening piirarose, and the 

 plants, owing to their light green, presented at a distance the appear- 

 ance of a cabbage-garden, until I realised, on approach, that many 

 were twelve or fourteen feet in height, and with woody stems that 

 considerably exceeded a man's leg in thickness and circum- 

 ference. Their dark red or purple fruit formed a commou article 

 of food, but I discovered, to my cost, that one should carefully 

 avoid gathering or even touching the leaves, not on account of the 

 large prickles, but the multitudinous small ones, which worked into 

 the hands almost imperceptibly, and are apt to fester. Any further 

 attempts to pursue my walk were destined to disappointment upon 

 this occasion, as the narrow stony paths that intersected the 

 steep vineyards, were converted into foaming watercourses, owing 

 to the roughness of the weather ; and I therefore contented myself 

 with the sight of Deiopeia pulchella, and the capture of Epilachna 

 chrysomelina, which last proved tolerably plentiful on waste 

 ground in the outskirts of the town. 



October 25th. One of the principal sights in the neighbourhood 

 of Baslia is the stalactilic Cave of Brando, distant about six 

 miles north along the coast ; and accordingly we paid two visits to 

 the spot, as on this first occasion we had arrived too late in the day 

 for aduiission to the grotto. The picturesque terrace-road leading 

 thither gave us a favourable impression of the general scenery of 

 the island. To the traveller in Corsica, it may be remarked, one 

 of the most noticeable features in the scenery of that country is the 

 prevalence of the universal " raacchie." The vegetation in question 

 is composed of various shrubs, myrtle, wild rosemary {Rosmarinus 

 officinalis), dwarf white broom {Genista Corsica), abundance of 

 arbutus and heath, but consists chiefly of a highly-scented tree 

 cistus {Cistus Monspeliensis), which bears a lilac blossom in 

 the spring. This macchie covers every hill-side, extending from 

 the rugged boulder and craggy scaur of the interior of the isle 

 down to the sea-shore, and thus served as a hiding-place for the 

 Corsican mobiles, when unwilling to encounter the Prussians. 

 It may seem superfluous to describe such a well-known tree as the 

 Arbutus, yet those who have not seen its wild profusion growing 

 in masses both above and beneath the circuitous sweep of the 

 mountain roads, the vivid green of its luxuriant foliage, its many 

 blossoms with berries yellow or scarlet, according to the degree of 



