FLOEA OF S. PAULO. 211 



On the Campos, which are gradually being brought under cultivation, frosts 

 are much dreaded, especially when cold nights are followed by sultry days, when 

 the glass rises to, and even above, 86° Fahr. Frosts follow, especially after heavy 

 rains, when radiation is stimulated by clear, cloudless skies. The rainfall itself 

 is ver}^ unequally distributed, rising in some years from nearly 120 inches at 

 Santos to over 160 on the crests of the neighbouring mountains, and then falling 

 to less than 40 at S. Paulo on the landward slope. On the other hand, the 

 aerial currents generally maintain their normal direction throughout the year, A 

 regular diurnal alteration takes place between the south-east marine, and the 

 north-west land breezes, the former prevailing during the night and earlj^ morning, 

 the latter in the evening. 



Thus S. Paulo, although standing on the inland plateau, enjoys a semi-marine 

 climate; but a few miles farther on the conditions are entirely changed.* The 

 line of equal magnetic declination traverses the State of S. Paulo with a gradual 

 incline towards the west. In 1885 it had reached the seaboard above Iguape a 

 short distance to the west of Santos. 



Flora and Fauna. 



During the winter months (June, July and August) the bare trunks of the trees, 

 the withered herbage and the absence of flowers, impart a dreary aspect to the 

 landscape. But with the first rains nature is transformed, and, as if by enchant- 

 ment, the plains are covered with the green sprouts of young plants, and even 

 with brilliant corollas. According to the seasons different groups of flowers burst 

 into bloom, blue, yellow or red tints predominating each in its turn. 



Loefgren estimates at 2,000 the number of plant forms growing on the Campos 

 of S. Paulo. Here the araucaria paranensis is one of the characteristic forest 

 trees, abounding especially in the more temperate zone. In general, the tropical 

 selva is intermingled w^ith the herbaceous vegetation of the Plate region, the 

 former prevailing especially on the seaboard, and along the valleys of the streams 

 flowing to the Parana; but here great clearances have alread}» been made by the 

 planters, the soil of the forest tracts being found the most favourable also for the 

 coffee shrub. 



But in many districts the woodlands have been cleared too rapidly. Much 

 ground, carelessly prepared for tillage, has had to be abandoned after a preliminary 

 attempt at cultivation, and new forests, consisting of different species, take the 

 place of the primitive selva. Such tracts, locally called Capoeiras, are less 

 beautiful, less picturesque than the virgin forest, and at the same time more 

 difiicult to traverse. These thickets, with their tangle of thorny bushes and 



* Meteorological conditions in the Parana States : — 



