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Show May-June, 1832. RIO DE JANEIRO. 36 11 . Garden where many plants, we I went to the Botamc .,. ' mi ht be seen growing. known for their great utluty, g . namon and clove h pepper, em ' The leaves of the camp or, . d the bread fruit, the trees were delightfully a~omat:chk; a~ other in the magni-d h 0'0 vied wit eac h d jack, an t e mano ' 1 d e in the neighbour oo fi.cence of their foliage. The an scafp the two latter trees. . 1 t t kes its character rom t of Bahia amos a 'd th t any trees could cas . th I had no 1 ea a h Before seemg em, d B th of them bear to t e so black a shade on the groun 1·. to the same kind of rel'at t' of these c 1ma es, ever green vege a IOn . . E land do to the lighter tion which laurels and hollies lin ng be observed that the f h d · duous trees. t may ' green o t e eel . d d by the most beau- . l . th tropics are surroun e houses Wit nn e f them are at the tiful forms of vege t at 'w n, because many o d bt that these same time most useful to man. Who can ou t the many . d . the banana the cocoa-nu ' qualities are umte m d h' b d-fruit tree ? l th orange an t e rea kinds of pam, e ' . k ith a remark of D ring this day I was particularly struc . w h' ·h u d t "the thm vapour w IC ' Humboldt's, who often allu es o fthe air renders its tints without changing the transpa~ency: t " &c This is an h · softens 1ts euec s, · more armomous, b d · the temperate appearance which I have neve:ho se;:ea s~:rt space of half zones. The atmosphere, seen roug 1 l . d but at a f mile was perfect y uci ' or three-quarters o a ' bl nded into a most beau-d. ta e all colours were e greater IS nc · 1 d with a little blue. t' ful haze of a pale French gray, mmg e . d ~he condition of the atmosphere betwee~ the m:r;I:~~:r-b t noon when the effect was most eVIdent, a . l a ou ' . . . t d ness In the mterva ' gone little change, exceptmgdm 1 s .r~ d temperature had the difference between the ew pom an increased from 7o .5 to 17o. l d lked to the On another occasion I started ea~ y an w.a h full cool . 'l mountain. The au was dehg t y GaVIa, or topsai d f d still glittered on the and fragrant ; and the rops o ew m leaves of the large liliaceous plants, which shaded the st~:a i~ lets of clear water. Sitting down on a block o~ gram :he wa,s d e1 t' g l 1t ful to watch the various insects and buds as y May-June, 1832. RIO DE JANEIRO. 37 flew past. The humming-birds seem particularly fond of such shady retired spots. Whenever I saw these little creatures buzzing round a flower, with their wings vibrating so rapidly as to be scarcely visible, I was reminded of the sphinx moths : their movements and habits are indeed, in many respects, very similar. Following a pathway I entered a noble forest, and from a height of five or six hundred feet, one of those splendid views was presented, which are so common on every side of Rio. At this elevation the landscape has attained its most brilliant tint; and every form, every shade, so completely surpasses in magnificence all that the European has ever beheld in his own country, that he knows not how to express his feelings. '"fhe general effect frequently recalled to my mind the gayest scenery of the Opera-house or the great theatres. I never returned from these excursions empty-handed. This day I found a specimen of a curious fungus, called H ymenophallus. Most people know the English Phallus, which in autumn taints the air with its odious smell: this, however, as the entomologist is aware, is to some of our beetles a delightful fragrance. So was it here; for a Strongylus, attracted by the odour, alighted on the fungus as I carried it in my hand. We here see in two distant countries a similar relation between plants and insects of the same families, though the species of both are different. When man is the agent in introducing into a country a new species, this relation is often broken : as one instance of this I may mention, that the leaves of the cabbages and lettuces, which in England afford food to such a multitude of slugs and caterpillars, in the gardens near Rio are untouched. During our stay in Brazil I made a large collection of insects. A few general observations on the comparative importance of the different orders, may be interesting to the English entomologist. The large and brilliantly- coloured Lepidoptera bespeak the zone they inhabit, far more plainly than any other race of animals. I allude only to the butterflies ; for the moths, contrary to what might have been expected from the rankness of the vegetation, certainly appeared in much |