The Zoologist — June, 1873. 3553 



maturity they have attained, can scarcely form an adequate idea of 

 the singular beauty of this truly handsome shrub. And yet the 

 landscape, as a whole, presents an arid rather than a verdant 

 aspect, since the leaf of the cistus has a sombre hue, that of the 

 rosemary is hoary, and between the various patches of underwood 

 bare spaces occur, and the green and undulating pastures — so 

 familiar to the traveller on the slopes of the Swiss mountains — are 

 here nowhere visible. Grass is scanty, and the island meat in 

 consequence poor, a large portion of what is consumed, as 

 well as milk and butter, being in fact imported from Marseilles. I 

 came across some fronds of the rare fern Gymnogramma lepto- 

 phylla, growing out of a stone wall, when seeking the British 

 Consul's country residence this afternoon, and also gathered, within 

 the shade of the olive groves bordering the road, pink cyclamens 

 {Cyclamen Neapolitamim), a finer species than that in the vicinity 

 of the Lake of Como, and having a more crown-shaped corolla. 



October 26th. Again to Brando, and this time with better 

 success. The scenery was diversified by the alternate recurrence 

 of a patch of dark green aloes, contrasting with the lighter hue of 

 the Barbary fig and the shady olive grove, succeeded in its turn by 

 red boulders cropping through the banks, then terraced vine- 

 yards, and clusters of tall reeds with flower only second to Pampas 

 grass in dimensions. A tramway skirted the road for a consider- 

 able distance, for conveying the slate from a large quarry in the 

 neighbourhood. The day was very fine and the sun powerful, and 

 insect life proved correspondingly abundant. Edusa was plen- 

 tiful, and I also noticed Brassicse, Rapse, ^geria, Lathonia, Phlaeas, 

 Alexis, as well as a species allied to Megaera (Satyrus Tigelius). 

 Deiopeia pulchella, and both red and blue varieties of CEdipoda 

 germanica were met with, and Acridium tataricum taking a short and 

 springy flight from off the road into the vineyards. Coleoptera, both 

 here and elsewhere throughout the island, proved very numerous ; for 

 example, during this walk I took Asida Corsica, Meloe autumnalis, 

 Capnodis tenebricosa, Bubas bison, Ateuchus laticollis, and Ti- 

 marcha Prunneri. When near our destination we took our lunch 

 under an olive-tree, and proceeding a short way further ascended 

 the hill up a steep path to the grotto, — when we came across the 

 finest growth of Adiantum Capillus- Veneris we had yet seen. The 

 fern in question draped an old arch that spanned the ascent to the 

 cave, which is situate in the face of a very bold and precipitous 



