314 Drs Hoppe and Hornschuch’s Tour to the Coast of the 
remnants of perennial plants and bushes ; among which we only 
recognised Spartium junceu m , and Scirpus romanus : the others 
were unknown to us, and were principally individuals belonging 
to the 14th, 17th, and 19th classes, chiefly Centaur ece and 
Artemisia ?. We now ascended another part of the moun- 
tain, and climbing over walls, and through vineyards, which 
formerly yielded the precious Proseko, the favourite drink of 
Pliny, we came to Contobello, where we rested a while. In the 
crevice of the wall of a vineyard, we gathered Ceterach officina- 
rum , and Asplenium Adiantum-nigrum> 'and, in grassy places, 
the first Violet of March, but we did not see the Euphorbia. We 
descended the steep footpath on the insulated hill of Contobello, 
and came to the stony road that leads to the city. Here we 
cast an anxious look on the left hand, over the vineyards, to- 
wards a group of rocks, which form the back-ground looking 
towards the sea. 44 Here,” said one of us, 46 here, surely, must 
be the Euphorbia and there it was ; all parts of the rock were 
full of it. It is, however, still backward in its flowers, and it 
may yet be a fortnight before the plants will be sufficiently ad- 
vanced to be gathered. We reached Hundsberg late in the 
evening, and considered our reward sufficient to tempt us to fu- 
ture excursions.” 
44 Hundsberg , March 2. — To-day we went into the city to 
visit the fish-market of Trieste, with our friend M. Hohl, as we 
had agreed to do, with the view of purchasing shells. It af- 
forded many marine animals, and various kinds of fish, most of 
them unknown to us. Eels, shrimps, lobsters, cuttle-fish, star- 
fish, sea-urchins ( See-Igel ), oysters, mussels, cockles, &c. The 
cuttle-fish (i Sepia officinalis ) yields the Ossa Sepiae of the apo- 
thecaries. The cover or operculum * of the Turbo rugosus , 
formerly employed in medicine, is here also sold, and the animal 
vended separately, at about the price of one creutzer for eight 
of them. The large Jacob's Mussels {Ostrcea Jacobaea ), cost 
three creutzers, and we had the advantage, besides possessing 
ourselves of the shells, of eating the animals, which are larger 
* This is the Umbilicus mar inns of the Materia Medica , where it yet holds a 
place, although not sold at the present day in our shops. It was formerly suppo- 
sed to possess great virtues, as an absorbent and astringent ; and was believed to 
eure the cramp, by being tied to the affected limb.— Ed. 
