PEICIvLY PEAKS. 
27 
step, which, added to the sun’s rays direct and re- 
flected, makes any exertion terribly fatiguing. Dra- 
gon-flies and Butterflies were numerous here ; one of 
the first objects that attracted my attention was 
Heliconia charitonia. Its beauty and singularity of 
form, the great length and little breadth of the wings, 
the length and slenderness of the body, and the 
brilliant contrasts of colour, lemon-yellow and vel- 
vety black, together with the very peculiar flapping 
of the wings in flight, as if their length rendered 
them somewhat unwieldy, gave me a sensation of de- 
lighted surprise. It is one of the most easily cap- 
tured of Butterflies, being slow of flight and fearless ; 
it flutters heavily along over low herbage at the sides 
of roads, and by the sea-shore, rarely mounting as 
high as one’s head, except when alarmed. Colcenis 
Delila^ Agraulis vanillce, and the minute Polyom- 
matus Cassius^ were also abundant here. A large 
Opuntia was growing in great straggling beds, the 
broad spine-set articulations displaying both flower 
and fruit in profusion. Notwithstanding the pencils 
of fine barbed spines with which the latter is armed 
at intervals, well maintaining its title of Prickly pear 
I was tempted by its plumpness and rich blooming 
colour to taste one. My lips were soon full of the 
spines, which are detached from their base with the 
slightest force, and left sticking in the flesh ; yet the 
pulp and juice, both of which were of the richest 
crimson hue, were pleasantly sweet-acid, though 
somewhat insipid, and full of stony seeds. An ex- 
cellent crimson dye, equal to true cochineal, has re- 
cently been obtained in the East Indies from the 
