246 NATUKAL HISTORY OF 



green foliage had a very pleasing effect. Over a flat space of 

 sandy ground, termed the " Campo," many specimens of a 

 Myrtaceous shrub, called "Pitanga" by the Brazilians, were 

 scattered. These belonged to a species of Eugenia, and, 

 like many of the other plants of the order, had pretty 

 white flowers, which are succeeded by red ribbed fruits, 

 somewhat resembling small tomatoes in form, and con- 

 sisting of a soft fleshy pulp, enclosing hard seeds in its 

 centre. These fruits are much esteemed by residents in 

 Brazil, but we thought them very unpalatable, possessing a 

 sickly sweetish taste, succeeded by a flavour of coal-tar. We 

 inspected a small vein of copper occurring in one spot, but 

 found it to be of very inferior quality. Lying on the beach 

 I observed several heads of a species of hammer-headed 

 shark, as well as numerous dead shells of bivalve Molluscs, 

 among which the Anomalocardia macrodon was one of the 

 most plentiful. I noticed a number of young Mangroves 

 growing in the water ; and on a boulder I found an 

 Aplysia, of a mottled gray colour (A. hrasiliana), which 

 emitted a fine purple liquid when handled. One of the 

 boat's crew also brought me some specimens of terrestrial 

 animals, carefully wrapped up in pieces of newspaper, 

 announcing that, among other things, there was a "tri- 

 antelope," and thereby exciting my curiosity as to the unknown 

 creature, which proved, when disclosed to view, to be a large 

 spider — a Tarantula being, as I afterwards concluded, the 

 animal intended. At one spot we came across two men in 

 a fishing-boat, and were amused to observe a large live fish 

 tethered below the bottom of the boat by means of a narrow 

 cord, which permitted' it to swim about freely. We left the 

 island in the evening, when the fire-flies were beginning to 

 appear in numbers, and returned home in the moonlight 

 without any particular adventure, with the exception of 



