202 BULLETIN: MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 
On р. 31 it is stated that the harbor of Pernambuco “is formed by the 
recife, a singular coral reef which borders the shore, more or less from 
Bahia to Maranham, a distance of nearly a thousand miles.” 
Auchincloss, W. 8. Ninety days in the Tropics or Letters from Brazil. 
Wilmington, Del., 1874, p. 21. 
This writer says, “the natural harbor is formed by a coral reef running 
parallel with the shore.” 
Ball, John. Notes of a naturalist in South America. By John Ball, 
London, 1887. 
On page 351 this writer says that Pernambuco is “ separated from the 
open roadstead by a coral reef several miles in length.” The author was 
at Pernambuco on board a transatlantic steamer, but, so far as I can 
learn, did not personally examine the reef. 
Barlaeus, Caspar. Res Brasilie imperante Illustrismo D. Г. Mauritio 
Nassovie, etc. Principe, per С. Barleum. Accedit С. Pisonis 
Tractatus de Aere, Aquis et Locis. Clivis. 
(This work has also the following title by which it is commonly 
known: Rerum per Octennium in Brasilia.) Editio secunda. Clivis, 
1660, (The “dedicatio” is dated April 20, 1647.) The first edition 
of this work was published at Amsterdam in 1647; the present refer- 
ences are to the second edition. 
Piso’s description of the reefs is given on p. 584-585. On page 248 is 
a plan of the city and reefs of Pernambuco, and a view of the town and 
reef taken by the Dutch artist Е. Post from the south, and looking 
toward the city and the northern end of the reef. (Page 66): “ Between 
Rio Biberibe and the ocean is a very narrow sandy tongue of land about 
а mile (4) long.... Where it comes to an end is the so-called recife 
(Веста) or receptacle (Receptus), probably so named because between 
this tongue and another insular oblong tract called the stone reef ships 
can enter.” (р. 248-249.) 
Tt should be noted that Barlaeus was never in Brazil, and that his in- 
formation was largely at second hand,? partly from Jean de Laet. The 
work is important in this connection largely on account of the beautiful 
drawings by Post. 
Barrow, John. Sce Malte-Brun. 
1 Barlaeus isin error here. Recife is the Portuguese word for reef, and the name 
of the city was unquestionably taken from. the reef, not from the form of the 
harbor. 
2 Historia das lutas com os Hollandezes. Pelo Barão do Porto Seguro, Lisbóa, 
1872, p. 176. 
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