PREFACE. 



As regards Entomology, I took every opportunity of 

 collecting everything that I was able to obtain ; and my 

 workmen, knowing my predilection, continually brought 

 me specimens. 



I must here express my deep gratitude to Senhor 

 Vicente de Azevedo Souza, of Pitanguy, Minas Geraes, who 

 collected many insects and birds while he was with me 

 in camp near the Serra do Cortume, in August and 

 September, 1883 ; and subsequently sent me some fifteen 

 hundred specimens of Coleoptera, with a few Lepidoptera 

 and other insects, from Pitanguy. 



The notes on the climatology of the mountain districts, 

 where I resided from July, 1883, to May, 1884, at a mean 

 altitude of three thousand feet above the sea level, will, I 

 hope, be found of some interest. 



I must refer to two very valuable works from which 

 I have quoted largely : Professor Emanuel Liais's* " Climats, 

 Gdologie, Faune, et Geographic botanique du Br&il " (Paris, 

 1872), and Captain Richard F. Burton's f "Explorations of 

 the Highlands of Brazil" (London, 1869, 2 vols.). The former 

 is exclusively scientific, and very important as a book of 

 reference. The latter, though published sixteen years ago, 

 might have been produced yesterday as far as life in the 

 interior is concerned. Both these works are most charm- 

 ingly written, and I must here express the great obligation 

 I am under to these two gentlemen, as well as to Mr. 

 H. W. Bates, for most generously giving me special per- 

 mission to make extracts from their respective volumes. 



* Late Director of the Imperial Observatory at Rio de Janeiro, Astronomer 

 of the Observatory at Paris, etc. 



t Now Sir Richard F. Burton, K.C.M.G. 



