Mollusks, 



8335 



proboscis, similar to that of Glandina truncata, Say, beautifully 

 figured in Binney, Plate 59. Like Glandina and Testacella, the body 

 is slender and much produced in front; the sole of the foot is narrow, 

 with nearly parallel sides ; and the tail is pointed and simple behind. 



In Von Marten's last edition of Alber's 6 Heliceen ' Streptaxis is 

 placed at the end between Pupa and Succinea, but our examination of 

 the animal shows that it should be removed altogether from the herbi- 

 vorous Pulmoniferae and form a separate subfamily, Streptaxinae, to 

 be placed between Testacellinae and Oleacininse, the two other groups 

 of zoophagous Pulmoniferae. 



Raza, a small island off the entrance of Rio harbour, is, I find on 

 landing, a vast mass of granite, partly bare and partly covered with 

 vegetation. The winds and the waves have acted on the primal mass 

 in the course of ages, and have in some parts reduced the constituents 

 to powder, obliging you to tread on golden dust, composed of horn- 

 blende and mica. In the deep blue sky above soars the man-of-war 

 bird, hundreds of restless gulls hover and scream around the base, and 

 from his barnacle-clad rock the redbilled oystercatcher scans the 

 stranger with curious eye. As I scramble up the rough-hewn granite 

 steps, myriads of Ligiae or sea-lice swarm across the path, golden-eyed 

 lizards dart among the loose stones, ants swarm up our legs, Polydesmi 

 and Juli abound, a black Gecko pokes out his warty head to look at 

 us, and a huge black cockroach gathers around her a numerous brood 

 as a hen does her chickens. Opatrums are found on the barren spots ; 

 blue, brown and yellow butterflies hover gaily over the flowers of Con- 

 volvulus and Tradescantia, and leaping among the stunted brushwood 

 are of course legions of noisy long-shanked grasshoppers. There is a 

 revolving light on the islet, and the bland custodian of the lighthouse 

 informs me that — attracted by the brilliancy thrown back from his highly- 

 polished reflectors — winged insects come by thousands round his lantern , 

 tapping at the glass all night long. The only mollusk I find on the 

 island is a little Pupula hiding in the crevices of the rocks. 



On nearing the shallow bay at Praya-do-Tinboy horseman crabs are 

 seen careering over the yellow sand, and I capture with much trouble 

 about a dozen of beautiful silvery white Cicindelae, which alight upon 

 the sand, run a little way and are off again. Growing from the fissures 

 of the rocks that skirt the shore are numbers of magnificent aloes, with 

 flowering stems twenty and even thirty feet high. The minute inves- 

 tigation of one of these astonishes me quite as much as did the straw- 

 berry plant St. Pierre. Helicinae lurk under the decaying footstalks ; 

 Hemiptera of extravagant shapes repose on the long green leaves ; 



