188 
THE MEDITERRANEAN’ NATURALIST 
feet high to the Straits. Except at “Catalan Bay,” 
where a short sandy beach affords a site for a 
little village, chiefly inhabitated by Genoese fisher- ^ 
men, the east side is quite inaccessible, being a ! 
succession of immense slopes of loose sand and 
gravel, standing at a steep angle, and crowned by ■ 
vertical walls of rock, or else rising in an unbro- 
ken precipice from the waters of the Mediterra- 
nean. The west side, although very rugged and 
in many places quite precipitous, is, on the whole, 1 
of a comparatively easy slope, and several good 
paths lead to the summit. 
. Although the actual height of the Rock is quite 
insignificant, it can scarcely be surpassed in the 
striking grandeur of its appearance, and from its 
summit may be obtained, on a clear day, a most 
extensive and charming view, embracing the 
whole of the Straits, and the Mediterranean shores 
nearly as far as Malaga with a glimpse of the 
distant “Lesser Atlas” in Morocco. From its 
abruptness and isolation, the Rock is a great 
“weather-breeder,” and when an easterly wind or 
“Levanter” prevails, as it does throughout most of 
the summer, the top is hidden for days together 
by a heavy pall of misty cloud stretching far 
across the Bay, while the sun is shining brightly 
over the adjoining country. Though the town, 
situated at the western foot of the Rock, is ex- 
posed to the full influence of the afternoon sun- 
shine, the summer heat is never excessive, rarely 
exceeding any time 85° in the shade. February is 
the coldest month, frost and snow being very rare, 
although not quite unknown. The average annual 
rainfall is about 36 inches, nearly all occuring 
between October and April: by the end of August 
the whole country, unrefreshed by a shower for 
the past three months, becomes as dry and brown 
as a high road. In this genial climate some of the 
butterflies continue on the wing the whole year 
round, and there is scarcely a sunny day in any 
month on which specimens of Pieris brassicce* and 
rupee* Colias Edusa ,* Satyrus jEcjcria* Pyra- 
meis cardui * and Atalanta ,* and Chrysophanus 
Phlceas * may not be met with in sheltered places. 
Much of the western side of the Rock, above 
the town and its fortifications, is covered with a 
dense bushy vegetation, most luxuriant towards 
the southern end near the summit. The flora of 
the district is, indeed, bj no means a scanty or 
! insignificant one, no fewer than 484 species of 
flowering plants being enumerated by Dr. Kelaart 
(Flora Calpensis, London. 1846) as occuring on the 
Rock itself and the small adjoining piece of sandy 
ground extending to the Spanish line: of these 
some 32 are introduced or cultivated, leaving the 
large number of 452 natives to Gibraltar. The dwarf 
palm, Chamcerops hvmilis forms a conspicuous 
feature in the vegetation of the Rock, and in the 
early spring months of February. March, and April, 
the abundance and beauty of the wild flowers 
(Boraginece, Composites, Labiatce, Or chi decs, and 
Liliacecp, predominating) is very striking. The 
pretty Crucifer, the Iberis gibraltarica, of Linne, 
has its only European station here, us large lilac 
flowers adorning the rock-faces in April and May, 
and, earlier in the year, the trefoil leaves and 
golden yellow blossoms of Oxalis cernuu , Thunb., 
an introduced Cape. plant, cover large spaces on 
the lower slopes. At the back of the Alameda, 
or public garden, is a good sized grove of Scotch 
firs, but on the whole, trees are rare, except in the 
gardens, and planted along the road sides. In 
these situations may be seen fine examples of the 
plane, the acacia, the locust tree (Ceratcnia sili- 
qua , L.j the Australian blue gum (Eucalyptus 
globulus ) the graceful Schinm molle of the Andes, 
here called the pimienta or pepper tree, and the 
Chinese Phytolacca dioica, or “ bella sombra." 
remarkable for the immense enlargement of its 
soft-wooded trunk just above the root: with the 
usual South European fruit trees, and an occasio- 
nal date palm, the fruit of which, however, rarely, 
if ever, ripens here. The prickly pear ( Opuntin ) 
and the Agave americanct are thoroughly naturali- 
zed, and are much used in the neighbourhood to 
form hedges. 
As is well known, the Rock is the sole European 
locality in which the Barbary ape (Macas-us 
inuus, L.) is found in a wild state. These animals 
reduced a few years ago to less than a dozen 
individuals have of late increased greatly in num- 
bers, and being strictly protected, are very bold 
and fearless. The fig trees in the gardens suffer 
so much from their depredations when the fruit 
is ripening, that it is found necessary to employ 
men to scare them away. The Barbarv partridge 
(Caccabis petrosa, Gmel.), though numerous on the 
Rock as well as on the opposite African coast, is, 
