6 NATURAL HISTORY OF 



resembling that of the larger island, embraces a variety of 

 species which are not to be met with upon it. A portion of 

 the entomology has been carefully worked out by Mr. 

 WoUaston, in his Coleoptera Atlantidum, and 160 species of 

 beetles are recorded by him from this island, while 598 are 

 assigned to Madeira, and 87 to the three Desertas. It is 

 also famous for its breed of rabbits, of which Mr. Darwin 

 has given an account in his Variation of Animals and Plants 

 under Domestication. In 1418 or 1419, a litter of rabbits was 

 placed on the island by J. Gonzales Zarco, and these 

 increased so rapidly "that they became a nuisance, and 

 actually caused the abandonment of the settlement." Mr 

 Darwin, who has instituted a careful comparison between 

 this feral breed and the English wild rabbit, has pointed 

 out that they differ conspicuously from it in their much 

 smaller size, as well as in the colouring of their fur, and 

 remarks on the wildness of their habits as observed in a 

 pair kept for some time in the Gardens of the Zoological 

 Society. 



By the middle of the forenoon the mountains of Madeira 

 were sighted, emerging from a bank of white cloud ; and as we 

 gradually approached, the general aspect of the land became 

 very fine, ridge rising beyond ridge to the horizon. As we 

 passed between the Desertas and the remarkable tongue of 

 land which terminates the eastern portion of the land, the 

 jagged volcanic rocks on S. Lorenzo Point and Fora Island 

 stood out, hard and sharp, like the teeth of a saw, against 

 the yellow sunset sky ; and between 7 and 8 p.m. we en- 

 tered the Bay of Funchal. It was a moonlight night of 

 indescribable beauty, several of the planets showing out 

 clear and bright, and the town of Funchal looked exceed- 

 ingly pretty ; its white houses, with their glancing lights on 



