500 NATUKAL HISTORY OF 



This day I made two additions to my collection of Amphibia 

 — one being a species of toad, the Bufo ornatus, and the other 

 of the Hylina, the Phyllomedusa hicolor, a very pretty little 

 creature of a vivid grass-green colour above, and light yel- 

 lowish-white beneath, with the sides spotted with purple. 

 Several of the officers at this time made a trip to the head of 

 the harbour, and on their return brought me specimens of a 

 Leguminous shrub {Guilandina honducella), with curious 

 prickly pods enclosing round hard gray seeds. 



The weather was now extremely hot and close, and as 

 sickness was rapidly spreading among the ship's company, 

 two of whom we had the misfortune to lose through a very 

 malignant form of typhoid fever. Captain Mayne decided on 

 proceeding to sea with as little delay as possible. The 

 necessary supplies of coal were therefore taken in on the 

 8th, and at four p.m. on the following day we moved slowly 

 out of the harbour, with a long homeward-bound pennant 

 flying from the mainmast. 



; Our ensuing experiences were of a very monotonous charac- 

 ter, and the great heat of the weather tended to produce much 

 inactivity alike of mind and body, — one of the few occupa- 

 tions available to those who, like myself, had a considerable 

 amount of idle time on their hands, consisting of lounging 

 about the gangways watching the VelellcB, Fhysalice, and 

 other floating animals. On the 1st of July we passed the 

 islands of Brava and Togo, the most southern of the Cape de 

 Yerdes, and in the evening of the following day we reached 

 St. Vincent, where, as we were placed in quarantine, we only 

 remained for a single day to take in a supply of fuel, and 

 then continued our northerly voyage, passing through the 

 N.E. trades, which carried us far to the westward of our 



