28 
ALLIGATOR POND. 
fruit of Opuntia coccinellifer, the NopM, on which 
the cochineal insect is fed ; it would he worth while 
to institute experiments on the fruit of this species, 
which is so abundant in the most sterile places in the 
West Indies.. While I was looking at a large But- 
terfly {Callidryas^ Euhule) that flitted about the ex- 
panded blossoms,, and admiring the similitude of 
colour between the fly and the flower, both being 
entirely of a delicate sulphur-yellow, — a Humming- 
bird suddenly appeared probing one of the latter, 
but was gone before I could w’ell observe his plum- 
age. By the ruby gleam that flashed from his 
throat, however, I conclude it to have been the 
Mango {Lampornis porphyrurus) , the sides of whose 
gorget are crimson in some lights.. 
Among the joints of the tangled Prickly pear, 
many vertical spiders’ webs were hung, some of 
which were of sufficient strength to offer considerable 
resistance to the hand. I looked at the tenant, and 
found it to be Nephila clavipes, a spider of exceed- 
ing beauty. It is of large size, being an inch and a 
half in length, exclusive of the legs, which extend 
over a space five inches in diameter. The body is 
lengthened, and studded with round white spots, each 
environed with a black border, on a rich greenish- 
brown ground, reminding one of the characteristic 
marking of the Tragopans among birds. The ce- 
phalo-thorax is shining black, its lustre half concealed 
by a clothing of short silvery down ; the legs are very 
long, and have a remarkable appearance from having 
a bunch of black hair set around the extremity of 
the first and second joints, like the bristles of a bottle- 
