Rio de Janeiro--Excursion north of Cape Frio--Great evaporation
--Slavery--Botofogo Bay--Terrestrial Planariæ--Clouds on
Corcovado--Heavy rain--Musical Hyla--Lampyris and its larvæ--Elater,
springing powers--Blue haze--Noise of butterfly--Entomology--Ants
--Wasp-killing spider--Parasitical spider--Artifices of Epeira
--Gregarious spider--Spider with imperfect web.
RIO DE JANEIRO.
APRIL 4TH TO JULY 5TH, 1832.--A few days after our arrival I became
acquainted with an Englishman who was going to visit his estate
situated, rather more than a hundred miles from the capital, to the
northward of Cape Frio. As I was quite unused to travelling, I gladly
accepted his kind offer of allowing me to accompany him.
APRIL 8TH.--Our party amounted to seven. The first stage was very
interesting. The day was powerfully hot, and as we passed through
the woods, every thing was motionless, excepting the large and
brilliant butterflies, which lazily fluttered about. The view seen
when crossing the hills behind Praia Grande was most beautiful; the
colours were intense, and the prevailing tint a dark blue; the sky
and the calm waters of the bay vied with each other in splendour.
After passing through some cultivated country, we entered a forest,
which in the grandeur of all its parts could not be exceeded. We
arrived by midday at Ithacaia; this small village is situated on
a plain, and round the central house are the huts of the negroes.
These, from their regular form and position, reminded me of the
drawings of the Hottentot habitations in Southern Africa. As the
moon rose early, we determined to start the same evening for our
sleeping-place at the Lagoa Marica. As it was growing dark we
passed under one of the massive, bare, and steep hills of granite
which are so common in this country. This spot is notorious from
having been, for a long time, the residence of some runaway slaves,
who, by cultivating a little ground near the top, contrived to eke
out a subsistence. At length they were discovered, and a party of
soldiers being sent, the whole were seized with the exception of one
old woman, who sooner than again be led into slavery, dashed herself
to pieces from the summit of the mountain. In a Roman matron this
would have been called the noble love of freedom: in a poor negress
it is mere brutal obstinacy. We continued riding for some hours. For
the few last miles the road was intricate, and it passed through a
desert waste of marshes and lagoons. The scene by the dimmed light of
the moon was most desolate. A few fireflies flitted by us; and the
solitary snipe, as it rose, uttered its plaintive cry. The distant
and sullen roar of the sea scarcely broke the stillness of the night.
APRIL 9TH.--We left our miserable sleeping-place before sunrise. The
road passed through a narrow sandy plain, lying between the sea and
the interior salt lagoons. The number of beautiful fishing birds,
such as egrets and cranes, and the succulent plants assuming most
fantastical forms, gave to the scene an interest which it would not
otherwise have possessed. The few stunted trees were loaded with
parasitical plants, among which the beauty and delicious fragrance
of some of the orchideæ were most to be admired. As the sun rose,
the day became extremely hot, and the reflection of the light and
heat from the white sand was very distressing. We dined at Mandetiba;
the thermometer in the shade being 84°. The beautiful view of the
distant wooded hills, reflected in the perfectly calm water of an
extensive lagoon, quite refreshed us. As the vênda[1] here was a
very good one, and I have the pleasant, but rare remembrance, of an
excellent dinner, I will be grateful and presently describe it, as
the type of its class. These houses are often large, and are built
of thick upright posts, with boughs interwoven, and afterwards
plastered. They seldom have floors, and never glazed windows; but are
generally pretty well roofed. Universally the front part is open,
forming a kind of verandah, in which tables and benches are placed.
The bed-rooms join on each side, and here the passenger may sleep as
comfortably as he can, on a wooden platform, covered by a thin straw
mat. The vênda stands in a courtyard, where the horses are fed. On
first arriving, it was our custom to unsaddle the horses and give
them their Indian corn; then, with a low bow, to ask the senhôr to
do us the favour to give us something to eat. “Any thing you choose,
sir,” was his usual answer. For the few first times, vainly I thanked
Providence for having guided us to so good a man. The conversation
proceeding, the case universally became deplorable. “Any fish can
you do us the favour of giving?”--“Oh! no, sir.”--“Any soup?”--“No,
sir.”--“Any bread?”--“Oh! no, sir.”--“Any dried meat?”--“Oh! no,
sir.” If we were lucky, by waiting a couple of hours, we obtained
fowls, rice, and farinha. It not unfrequently happened, that we were
obliged to kill, with stones, the poultry for our own supper. When
thoroughly exhausted by fatigue and hunger, we timorously hinted that
we should be glad of our meal, the pompous, and (though true) most
unsatisfactory answer was, “It will be ready when it is ready.” If
we had dared to remonstrate any further, we should have been told
to proceed on our journey, as being too impertinent. The hosts are
most ungracious and disagreeable in their manners; their houses and
their persons are often filthily dirty; the want of the accommodation
of forks, knives, and spoons is common; and I am sure no cottage or
hovel in England could be found in a state so utterly destitute of
every comfort. At Campos Novos, however, we fared sumptuously; having
rice and fowls, biscuit, wine, and spirits, for dinner; coffee in the
evening, and fish with coffee for breakfast. All this, with good food
for the horses, only cost 2_s._ 6_d._ per head. Yet the host of this
vênda, being asked if he knew any thing of a whip which one of the
party had lost, gruffly answered, “How should I know? why did you not
take care of it?--I suppose the dogs have eat it.”
Leaving Mandetiba, we continued to pass through an intricate
wilderness of lakes; in some of which were fresh, in others salt
water shells. Of the former kind I found a Limnæa in great numbers
in a lake, into which, the inhabitants assured me, the sea annually,
and sometimes oftener, entered, and made the water quite salt. I
have no doubt many interesting facts, in relation to marine and
fresh water animals, might be observed in this chain of lagoons,
which skirt the coast of Brazil. M. Gay[2] has stated that he found
in the neighbourhood of Rio, shells of the marine genera solen and
mytilus, and fresh water ampullariæ, living together in brackish
water. I also frequently observed in the lagoon near the Botanic
Garden, where the water is only a little less salt than in the sea,
a species of hydrophilus, very similar to a species common in the
ditches of England: in the same lake the only shell belonged to a
genus generally found in estuaries.
Leaving the coast for a time, we again entered the forest. The trees
were very lofty, and remarkable, compared to those of Europe, from
the whiteness of their trunks. I see by my note-book, “wonderful and
beautiful, flowering parasites,” invariably struck me as the most
novel object in these grand scenes. Travelling onwards we passed
through tracts of pasturage, much injured by the enormous conical
ants’ nests, which were nearly twelve feet high. They gave to the
plain exactly the appearance of the mud volcanoes at Jorullo, as
figured by Humboldt. We arrived at Engenhodo after it was dark,
having been ten hours on horseback. I never ceased, during the whole
journey, to be surprised at the amount of labour which the horses
were capable of enduring; they appeared also to recover from any
injury much sooner than those of our English breed. The Vampire bat
is often the cause of much trouble, by biting the horses on their
withers. The injury is generally not so much owing to the loss of
blood, as to the inflammation which the pressure of the saddle
afterwards produces. The whole circumstance has lately been doubted
in England; I was therefore fortunate in being present when one[3]
was actually caught on a horse’s back. We were bivouacking late one
evening near Coquimbo, in Chile, when my servant, noticing that one
of the horses was very restive, went to see what was the matter, and
fancying he could distinguish something, suddenly put his hand on the
beast’s withers, and secured the vampire. In the morning, the spot,
where the bite had been inflicted, was easily distinguished from
being slightly swollen and bloody. The third day afterwards we rode
the horse, without any ill effects.
APRIL 13TH.--After three days’ travelling we arrived at Socêgo, the
estate of Senhôr Manuel Figuireda, a relation of one of our party.
The house was simple, and, though like a barn in form, was well
suited to the climate. In the sitting-room gilded chairs and sofas
were oddly contrasted with the whitewashed walls, thatched roof, and
windows without glass. The house, together with the granaries, the
stables, and workshops for the blacks, who had been taught various
trades, formed a rude kind of quadrangle; in the centre of which a
large pile of coffee was drying. These buildings stand on a little
hill, overlooking the cultivated ground, and surrounded on every
side by a wall of dark green luxuriant forest. The chief produce of
this part of the country is coffee. Each tree is supposed to yield
annually, on an average, two pounds; but some give as much as eight.
Mandioca or cassada is likewise cultivated in great quantity. Every
part of this plant is useful: the leaves and stalks are eaten by the
horses, and the roots are ground into a pulp, which, when pressed dry
and baked, forms the farinha, the principal article of sustenance
in the Brazils. It is a curious, though well-known fact, that the
expressed juice of this most nutritious plant is highly poisonous. A
few years ago a cow died at this Fazênda, in consequence of having
drunk some of it. Senhôr Figuireda told me that he had planted, the
year before, one bag of feijaô or beans, and three of rice; the
former of which produced eighty, and the latter three hundred and
twenty fold. The pasturage supports a fine stock of cattle, and the
woods are so full of game, that a deer had been killed on each of
the three previous days. This profusion of food showed itself at
dinner, where, if the tables did not groan, the guests surely did:
for each person is expected to eat of every dish. One day, having, as
I thought, nicely calculated so that nothing should go away untasted,
to my utter dismay a roast turkey and a pig appeared in all their
substantial reality. During the meals, it was the employment of a
man to drive out of the room sundry old hounds, and dozens of little
black children, which crawled in together, at every opportunity. As
long as the idea of slavery could be banished, there was something
exceedingly fascinating in this simple and patriarchal style of
living: it was such a perfect retirement and independence of the
rest of the world. As soon as any stranger is seen arriving, a large
bell is set tolling, and generally some small cannon are fired.
The event is thus announced to the rocks and woods, but to nothing
else. One morning I walked out an hour before daylight to admire the
solemn stillness of the scene; at last, the silence was broken by the
morning hymn, raised on high by the whole body of the blacks; and in
this manner, their daily work is generally begun. On such fazendas
as these, I have no doubt the slaves pass happy and contented lives.
On Saturday and Sunday they work for themselves, and in this fertile
climate the labour of two days is sufficient to support a man and his
family for the whole week.
APRIL 14TH.--Leaving Socêgo, we rode to another estate on the
Rio Macâe, which was the last patch of cultivated ground in that
direction. The estate was two and a half miles long, and the owner
had forgotten how many broad. Only a very small piece had been
cleared, yet almost every acre was capable of yielding all the
various rich productions of a tropical land. Considering the enormous
area of Brazil, the proportion of cultivated ground can scarcely be
considered as any thing, compared to that which is left in the state
of nature: at some future age, how vast a population it will support!
During the second day’s journey we found the road so shut up, that it
was necessary that a man should go ahead with a sword to cut away the
creepers. The forest abounded with beautiful objects; among which the
tree-ferns, though not large, were, from their bright green foliage,
and the elegant curvature of their fronds, most worthy of admiration.
In the evening it rained very heavily, and although the thermometer
stood at 65°, I felt very cold. As soon as the rain ceased, it was
curious to observe the extraordinary evaporation which commenced over
the whole extent of the forest. At the height of a hundred feet the
hills were buried in a dense white vapour, which rose like columns
of smoke from the most thickly-wooded parts, and especially from the
valleys. I observed this phenomenon on several occasions: I suppose
it is owing to the large surface of foliage, previously heated by the
sun’s rays.
While staying at this estate, I was very nearly being an eyewitness
to one of those atrocious acts, which can only take place in a
slave country. Owing to a quarrel and a lawsuit, the owner was on
the point of taking all the women and children from the men, and
selling them separately at the public auction at Rio. Interest, and
not any feeling of compassion, prevented this act. Indeed, I do not
believe the inhumanity of separating thirty families, who had lived
together for many years, even occurred to the person. Yet I will
pledge myself, that in humanity and good feeling, he was superior
to the common run of men. It may be said there exists no limit to
the blindness of interest and selfish habit. I may mention one very
trifling anecdote, which at the time struck me more forcibly than
any story of cruelty. I was crossing a ferry with a negro, who was
uncommonly stupid. In endeavouring to make him understand, I talked
loud, and made signs, in doing which I passed my hand near his face.
He, I suppose, thought I was in a passion, and was going to strike
him; for instantly, with a frightened look and half-shut eyes, he
dropped his hands. I shall never forget my feelings of surprise,
disgust, and shame, at seeing a great powerful man afraid even to
ward off a blow, directed, as he thought, at his face. This man had
been trained to a degradation lower than the slavery of the most
helpless animal.
APRIL 18TH.--In returning we spent two days at Socêgo, and I employed
them in collecting insects in the forest. The greater number of
trees, although so lofty, are not more than three or four feet in
circumference. There are, of course, a few of much greater dimension.
Senhôr Manuel, was then making a canoe seventy feet in length from a
solid trunk, which had originally been 110 feet long, and of great
thickness. The contrast of palm-trees, growing amidst the common
branching kinds, never fails to give the scene an intertropical
character. Here the woods were ornamented by the Cabbage Palm--one
of the most beautiful of its family. With a stem so narrow that it
might be clasped with the two hands, it waves its elegant head at the
height of forty or fifty feet above the ground. The woody creepers,
themselves covered by other creepers, were of great thickness: some
which I measured were two feet in circumference. Many of the older
trees presented a very curious appearance from the tresses of a
liana depending from their boughs, and resembling bundles of hay. If
the eye was turned from the world of foliage above, to the ground
beneath, it was attracted by the extreme elegance of the leaves of
the ferns and mimosæ. The latter, in some parts, covered the surface
with a brushwood only a few inches high. In walking across these
thick beds, a broad track was marked by the change of shade, produced
by the drooping of their sensitive petioles. It is easy to specify
the individual objects of admiration in these grand scenes; but it
is not possible to give an adequate idea of the higher feelings of
wonder, astonishment, and devotion, which fill and elevate the mind.
APRIL 19TH.--Leaving Socêgo, during the two first days, we retraced
our steps. It was very wearisome work, as the road generally ran
across a glaring hot sandy plain, not far from the coast. I noticed
that each time the horse put its foot on the fine siliceous sand,
a gentle chirping noise was produced. On the third day we took a
different line, and passed through the gay little village of Madre de
Deos. This is one of the principal lines of road in Brazil; yet it
was in so bad a state, that no wheel vehicle, excepting the clumsy
bullock-waggon, could pass along. In our whole journey we did not
cross a single bridge built of stone; and those made of logs of wood
were frequently so much out of repair, that it was necessary to go
on one side to avoid them. All distances are inaccurately known.
The road is often marked by crosses, in the place of milestones, to
signify where human blood has been spilled. On the evening of the 23d
we arrived at Rio, having finished our pleasant little excursion.
During the remainder of my stay at Rio, I resided in a cottage at
Botofogo Bay. It was impossible to wish for any thing more delightful
than thus to spend some weeks in so magnificent a country. In England
any person fond of natural history enjoys in his walks a great
advantage, by always having something to attract his attention; but
in these fertile climates, teeming with life, the attractions are so
numerous, that he is scarcely able to walk at all.
The few observations which I was enabled to make were almost
exclusively confined to the invertebrate animals. The existence
of a division of the genus Planaria, which inhabits the dry land,
interested me much. These animals are of so simple a structure,
that Cuvier has arranged them with the intestinal worms, though
never found within the bodies of other animals. Numerous species
inhabit both salt and fresh water; but those to which I allude were
found beneath logs of rotten wood, even in the drier parts of the
forest. In general form they resemble little slugs, but are very
much narrower in proportion. I met with one specimen no less than
five inches long. The lower surface, by which they crawl, is flat,
the upper being convex: in this latter respect the terrestrial
species all differ from the depressed forms of the aquatic. Their
structure is very simple. Near the middle of the under surface,
there are two small transverse slits, from the anterior one of which
a funnel-shaped organ, or cup, can be protruded. This seems to act
as the mouth. It is soft, highly irritable, and capable of various
movements; when drawn within the body it is generally folded up like
the bud of a plant. From the central position of the orifice, the
animal has its mouth in the middle of what would commonly be called
its stomach! For some time after the rest of the animal has become
dead from the effects of salt water, or other cause, this organ still
retains its vitality. The body is soft and parenchymatous; in the
central part a transparent space, with lateral ramifications, appears
to act as a system of circulation. Minute, black, eye-like specks
are scattered round the margin of the crawling surface, and more
abundantly close to the anterior extremity, which is constantly used
as a feeler. In a marine species, I extracted from the central parts
of the body vast numbers of little spherical eggs; they were .006 of
an inch in diameter, and contained a central opake mass or yolk.
The terrestrial Planariæ, of which I have found no less than eight
species, occur from within the tropic to lat. 47° south, and are
common to South America, New Zealand, Van Diemen’s Land, and
Mauritius. Some of the species are longitudinally striped with
several bands of gay colours. At first sight there is a remarkable
false analogy between these animals and snails, although so widely
separated from each other in all essential points of organization.
I suppose these Planariæ feed on rotten wood, for they are always
found crawling on the under surface of old decayed trees; and some
small specimens being kept with no other food, rapidly increased
in size. Although gaily-coloured little animals, they dislike, and
are very sensitive to the light. Some specimens which I obtained
at Van Diemen’s Land, I kept alive for nearly two months. Having
cut one of them transversely into two nearly equal parts, in the
course of a fortnight both had the shape of perfect animals. I had,
however, so divided the body, that one of the halves contained both
the inferior orifices, and the other, in consequence, none. In the
course of twenty-five days from the operation, the more perfect
half could not have been distinguished from any other specimen. The
other had increased much in size; and towards its posterior end,
a clear space was formed in the parenchymatous mass, in which a
rudimentary cup-shaped organ could clearly be distinguished; on the
under surface, however, no corresponding slit was yet open. If the
increased heat of the weather, as we approached the equator, had not
destroyed all the individuals, there can be no doubt that this last
step would have completed its structure. Although so well-known an
experiment, it was interesting to watch the gradual production of
every essential organ, out of the simple extremity of another animal.
It is extremely difficult to preserve these Planariæ; immediately the
cessation of life allows the ordinary laws of change to act, their
entire bodies become soft and fluid, with a rapidity which I have
never seen equalled. A method of preservation that I found answered
pretty well, was to dry the whole animal rapidly on a thin plate of
mica, for the body thus becomes transparent, and allows the internal
structure to be seen.
I first visited the forest in which these Planariæ were found, in
company with an old Portuguese priest who took me out to hunt with
him. The sport consisted in turning into the cover a few dogs, and
then patiently waiting to fire at any animal which might appear. We
were accompanied by the son of a neighbouring farmer--a good specimen
of a wild Brazilian youth. He was dressed in a tattered old shirt and
trousers, and had his head uncovered: he carried an old-fashioned
gun and a large knife. The habit of carrying the knife is universal;
and in traversing a thick wood it is almost necessary, on account of
the creeping plants. The frequent occurrence of murder may be partly
attributed to this habit. The Brazilians are so dexterous with the
knife, that they can throw it to some distance with precision, and
with sufficient force to cause a fatal wound. I have seen a number
of little boys practising this art as a game of play, and from their
skill in hitting an upright stick, they promised well for more
earnest attempts. My companion, the day before, had shot two large
bearded monkeys. These animals have prehensile tails, the extremity
of which, even after death, can support the whole weight of the body.
One of them thus remained fast to a branch, and it was necessary to
cut down a large tree to procure it. This was soon effected, and down
came tree and monkey with an awful crash. Our day’s sport, besides
the monkey, was confined to sundry small green parrots and a few
toucans. I profited, however, by my acquaintance with the Portuguese
padre, for on another occasion he gave me a fine specimen of the
Yaguarundi cat.
Every one has heard of the beauty of the scenery near Botofogo.
The house in which I lived was seated close beneath the well-known
mountain of the Corcovado. It has been remarked, with much truth,
that abruptly conical hills are characteristic of the formation which
Humboldt designates as gneiss-granite. Nothing can be more striking
than the effect of these huge rounded masses of naked rock rising out
of the most luxuriant vegetation.
I was often interested by watching the clouds, which, rolling in
from seaward, formed a bank just beneath the highest point of the
Corcovado. This mountain, like most others, when thus partly veiled,
appeared to rise to a far prouder elevation than its real height of
2300 feet. Mr. Daniell has observed, in his meteorological essays,
that a cloud sometimes appears fixed on a mountain summit, while the
wind continues to blow over it. The same phenomenon here presented
a slightly different appearance. In this case the cloud was clearly
seen to curl over, and rapidly pass by the summit, and yet was
neither diminished nor increased in size. The sun was setting, and a
gentle southerly breeze, striking against the southern side of the
rock, mingled its current with the colder air above; and the vapour
was thus condensed: but as the light wreaths of cloud passed over the
ridge, and came within the influence of the warmer atmosphere of the
northern sloping bank, they were immediately redissolved.
The climate, during the months of May and June, or the beginning of
winter, was delightful. The mean temperature, from observations taken
at nine o’clock, both morning and evening, was only 72°. It often
rained heavily, but the drying southerly winds soon again rendered
the walks pleasant. One morning, in the course of six hours, 1.6
inches of rain fell. As this storm passed over the forests, which
surround the Corcovado, the sound produced by the drops pattering
on the countless multitude of leaves, was very remarkable; it could
be heard at the distance of a quarter of a mile, and was like the
rushing of a great body of water. After the hotter days, it was
delicious to sit quietly in the garden and watch the evening pass
into night. Nature, in these climes, chooses her vocalists from more
humble performers than in Europe. A small frog, of the genus Hyla,[4]
sits on a blade of glass about an inch above the surface of the
water, and sends forth a pleasing chirp. When several were together
they sung in harmony on different notes. Various cicadæ and crickets,
at the same time, kept up a ceaseless shrill cry, but which, softened
by the distance, was not unpleasant. Every evening after dark this
great concert commenced; and often have I sat listening to it, until
my attention has been drawn away by some curious passing insect.
At these times the fireflies are seen[5] flitting about from hedge
to hedge. All that I caught belonged to the family of Lampyridæ,
or glowworms, and the greater number were _Lampyris occidentalis_.
I found that this insect emitted the most brilliant flashes when
irritated: in the intervals the abdominal rings were obscured. The
flash was almost coinstantaneous in the two rings, but it was first
just perceptible in the anterior one. The shining matter was fluid
and very adhesive: little spots, where the skin had been torn,
continued bright with a slight scintillation, whilst the uninjured
parts were obscured. When the insect was decapitated the rings
remained uninterruptedly bright, but not so brilliant as before:
local irritation with a needle always increased the vividness of the
light. The rings in one instance retained their luminous property
nearly twenty-four hours after the death of the insect. From these
facts it would appear probable, that the animal has only the power
of concealing or extinguishing the light for short intervals, and
that at other times the display is involuntary. On the muddy and wet
gravel-walks I found the larvæ of this lampyris in great numbers:
they resembled in general form the female of the English glowworm.
These larvæ possessed but feeble luminous powers; very differently
from their parents, on the slightest touch they feigned death, and
ceased to shine; nor did irritation excite any fresh display. I kept
several of them alive for some time: their tails are very singular
organs, for they act, by a well-fitted contrivance, as suckers, or
organs of attachment, and likewise as reservoirs for saliva, or some
such fluid. I repeatedly fed them on raw meat; and I invariably
observed, that every now and then the extremity of the tail was
applied to the mouth, and a drop of fluid exuded on the meat, which
was then in the act of being consumed. The tail, notwithstanding so
much practice, does not seem to be able to find its way to the mouth;
at least the neck was always touched first, and apparently as a guide.
When we were at Bahia, an elater (_Pyrophorus luminosus_, Illig.)
seemed the most common luminous insect. The light in this case was
also rendered more brilliant by irritation. I amused myself one day
by observing the springing powers of this insect, which have not,[6]
as it appears to me, been properly described. The elater, when placed
on its back and preparing to spring, moved its head and thorax
backwards, so that the pectoral spine was drawn out, and rested on
the edge of its sheath. The same backward movement being continued,
the spine, by the full action of the muscles, was bent like a spring;
and the insect at this moment rested on the extremity of its head and
elytra. The effort being suddenly relaxed, the head and thorax flew
up, and, in consequence, the base of the elytra struck the supporting
surface with such force, that the insect by the reaction was jerked
upwards to the height of one or two inches. The projecting points
of the thorax, and the sheath of the spine, served to steady the
whole body during the spring. In the descriptions which I have read,
sufficient stress does not appear to have been laid on the elasticity
of the spine: so sudden a spring could not be the result of simple
muscular contraction, without the aid of some mechanical contrivance.
On several occasions I enjoyed some short but most pleasant
excursions in the neighbouring country. One day I went to the
Botanic Garden, where many plants, well known for their great
utility, might be seen growing. The leaves of the camphor, pepper,
cinnamon, and clove trees were delightfully aromatic; and the
bread-fruit, the jack, and the mango, vied with each other in the
magnificence of their foliage. The landscape in the neighbourhood of
Bahia almost takes its character from the two latter trees. Before
seeing them, I had no idea that any trees could cast so black a shade
on the ground. Both of them bear to the ever green vegetation of
these climates, the same kind of relation which laurels and hollies
in England do to the lighter green of the deciduous trees. It may
be observed, that the houses within the tropics are surrounded by
the most beautiful forms of vegetation, because many of them are at
the same time most useful to man. Who can doubt that these qualities
are united in the banana, the cocoa-nut, the many kinds of palm, the
orange, and the bread-fruit tree?
During this day I was particularly struck with a remark of
Humboldt’s, who often alludes to “the thin vapour which, without
changing the transparency of the air, renders its tints more
harmonious, softens its effects,” &c. This is an appearance which
I have never observed in the temperate zones. The atmosphere, seen
through a short space of half or three-quarters of a mile, was
perfectly lucid, but at a greater distance all colours were blended
into a most beautiful haze, of a pale French gray, mingled with a
little blue. The condition of the atmosphere between the morning and
about noon, when the effect was most evident, had undergone little
change, excepting in its dryness. In the interval, the difference
between the dew point and temperature had increased from 7°.5 to 17°.
On another occasion I started early and walked to the Gavia, or
topsail mountain. The air was delightfully cool and fragrant; and the
drops of dew still glittered on the leaves of the large liliaceous
plants, which shaded the streamlets of clear water. Sitting down on a
block of granite, it was delightful to watch the various insects and
birds as they 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. The 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 Hymenophallus. 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 fewer numbers than in our own temperate regions. I was much
surprised at the habits of _Papilio feronia_. This butterfly is not
uncommon, and generally frequents the orange-groves. Although a
high flier, yet it very frequently alights on the trunks of trees.
On these occasions its head is invariably placed downwards; and its
wings are expanded in a horizontal plane, instead of being folded
vertically, as is commonly the case. This is the only butterfly which
I have ever seen that uses its legs for running. Not being aware of
this fact, the insect, more than once, as I cautiously approached
with my forceps, shuffled on one side just as the instrument was
on the point of closing, and thus escaped. But a far more singular
fact, is the power which this species possesses of making a noise.[7]
Several times when a pair, probably male and female, were chasing
each other in an irregular course, they passed within a few yards of
me; and I distinctly heard a clicking noise, similar to that produced
by a toothed wheel passing under a spring catch.[8] The noise was
continued at short intervals, and could be distinguished at about
twenty yards distance. I cannot form a conjecture how it is produced;
but I am certain there is no error in the observation.
I was disappointed in the general aspect of the Coleoptera. The
number of minute and obscurely-coloured beetles is exceedingly
great.[9] The cabinets of Europe can, as yet, boast only of the
larger species from tropical climates. It is sufficient to disturb
the composure of an entomologist’s mind, to look forward to the
future dimensions of a complete catalogue. The Carabidæ appear in
extremely few numbers within the tropics. This is the more remarkable
when compared to the opposed case of the carnivorous mammalia, an
order which they certainly represent among insects. I was struck with
this observation both on entering Brazil, and when I saw the elegant
and active forms of the Harpalidæ reappearing on the temperate plains
of La Plata. Do the very numerous Arachnidæ and rapacious Hymenoptera
supply the place of these carnivorous beetles? The carrion-feeders
and Brachelytra are very uncommon; on the other hand, the Rhyncophora
and Chrysomelidæ, all of which depend on the vegetable world for
subsistence, are present in astonishing numbers. I do not here refer
to the number of different species, but to that of the individual
insects; for on this it is that the most striking character in the
entomology of different countries depends. The orders Orthoptera and
Hemiptera are particularly numerous; as likewise is the stinging
division of the Hymenoptera; the bees, perhaps, being excepted. A
person, on first entering a tropical forest, is astonished at the
labours of the ants: well-beaten paths branch off in every direction,
on which an army of never-failing foragers may be seen, some going
forth, and others returning, burdened with pieces of green leaf,
often larger than their own bodies.
A small dark-coloured species sometimes migrates in countless
numbers. One day, at Bahia, my attention was drawn by observing many
spiders, cockroaches, and other insects, and some lizards, rushing
in the greatest agitation across a bare piece of ground. A little
way behind, every stalk and leaf was blackened by a small ant. The
swarm having crossed the bare space, divided itself, and descended an
old wall. By this means many insects were fairly enclosed; and the
efforts, which the poor little creatures made to extricate themselves
from such a death, were wonderful. When the ants came to the road
they changed their course, and in narrow files reascended the wall.
Having placed a small stone, so as to intercept one of the lines,
the whole body attacked it, and then immediately retired. Shortly
afterwards another body came to the charge, and again having failed
to make any impression, this line of march was entirely given up. By
going an inch round, the file might have avoided the stone, and this
doubtless would have happened, if it had been originally there: but
having been attacked, the lion-hearted little warriors scorned the
idea of yielding.
Certain wasp-like insects, which construct in the corners of the
verandahs clay cells for their larvæ, are very numerous in the
neighbourhood of Rio. These cells they stuff full of dead and dying
spiders and caterpillars. I was much interested one day by watching
a deadly contest between a Pepsis and a large spider of the genus
Lycosa. The wasp made a sudden dash at its prey, and then flew away:
the spider was evidently wounded, for trying to escape, it rolled
down a little slope, but had still strength sufficient to crawl into
a thick tuft of grass. The wasp soon returned, and seemed surprised
at not immediately finding its victim. It then commenced as regular
a hunt, as ever hound did after fox; making short semicircular
casts, and all the time rapidly vibrating its wings and antennæ.
The spider, though well concealed, was soon discovered; and the
wasp, evidently still afraid of its adversary’s jaws, after much
manœuvring, inflicted two stings on the under side of its thorax. At
last, carefully examining with its antennæ the now motionless spider,
it proceeded to drag away the body. But I stopped both tyrant and
prey.[10]
The number of spiders in proportion to other insects, is here as
compared to England very much increased; perhaps more so, than with
any other division of the articulate animals. The variety of species
among the saltigrade, or jumping spiders, appears almost infinite.
The genus, or rather family of Epeira, is here characterized by many
singular forms; some species have pointed coriaceous shells, others
enlarged and spiny tibiæ. Every path in the forest is barricaded with
the strong yellow web of a species, belonging to the same division
with the _Epeira clavipes_ of Fabricius, which was formerly said by
Sloane to make, in the West Indies, webs so strong as to catch birds.
A small and pretty kind of spider, with very long anterior legs, and
which appears to belong to an undescribed genus, lives as a parasite
on almost every one of these webs. I suppose it is too insignificant
to be noticed by the great Epeira, and is therefore allowed to prey
on the minute insects, which adhering to the lines, would otherwise
be wasted. When frightened, this little spider either feigns death
by extending its front legs, or suddenly drops from the web. A large
Epeira of the same division with _Epeira tuberculata_ and _conica_
(with fleshy prominences on its abdomen) is extremely common,
especially in dry situations. Its web, which is generally placed
among the great leaves of the common agave, is sometimes strengthened
near the centre by a pair or even four zigzag ribbons, which connect
two adjoining rays. When any large insect, as a grasshopper or wasp,
is caught, the spider, by quickly giving it a revolving movement,
and at the same time emitting a band of threads from its spinners,
soon envelops its prey in a case like the cocoon of a silkworm. The
spider now examines the powerless victim, and gives the fatal bite on
the hinder part of its thorax; then retreating, it patiently waits
till the poison has taken effect. The virulence of this poison may be
judged of, from the fact that in half a minute I opened the mesh, and
found a large wasp quite lifeless. This Epeira always stands with its
head downwards near the centre of the web. When disturbed, it acts
differently according to circumstances: if there is a thicket below,
it suddenly falls down. I may remark, that I have distinctly seen the
thread from the spinners, lengthened by the will of the animal while
yet stationary, as preparatory to its fall. If the ground is clear
beneath, the Epeira seldom falls, but moves quickly through a central
passage, from one to the other side. When still further disturbed,
it practices a most curious manœuvre: standing in the middle, it
violently jerks the web, which is attached to elastic twigs, till at
last the whole acquires such a rapid vibratory movement, that even
the outline of the spider’s body becomes indistinct.
I will here just mention a gregarious Epeira found in great numbers
near St. Fe Bajada, the capital of one of the provinces of La Plata.
The spiders were of a large size, and of a black colour, with ruby
marks on their backs. They were nearly all of one dimension, and
therefore could not have been a few old individuals with their
families. The webs were placed vertically, as is invariably the
case with the genus Epeira: they were separated from each other by
a space of about two feet, but were all attached to certain common
lines, which were of great length, and extended to all parts of
the community. In this manner the tops of some large bushes were
encompassed by the united nets. Azara[11] has described a gregarious
spider in Paraguay, which Walckenaer thinks must be a Theridion,
but probably it is an Epeira, and perhaps even the same species as
mine. I cannot, however, recollect seeing a central nest, as large
as a hat, in which, during autumn when the spiders die, Azara says
the eggs are deposited. These gregarious habits in so typical a
genus as Epeira, present a singular case among insects, which are so
bloodthirsty and solitary, that even the sexes attack each other.
In a lofty valley of the Cordillera, near Mendoza, I found another
spider with a singularly-formed web. Strong lines radiated in a
vertical plane from a common centre, where the insect had its
station; but only two of the rays were connected by a symmetrical
mesh-work; so that the net, instead of being, as is generally the
case, circular, consisted of a wedge-shaped segment. All the webs
were similarly constructed.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Vênda, the Portuguese name for an inn.
[2] Annales des Sciences Naturelles for 1833.
[3] This bat belongs to the genus Edostoma of D’Orbigny, but is a new
species.
[4] I had some difficulty in catching a specimen of this frog. The
genus Hyla has its toes terminated by small suckers; and I found
this animal could crawl up a pane of glass, when placed absolutely
perpendicular.
[5] On a dark night the light could be seen at about two hundred
paces distant. It is remarkable that in all the glowworms, shining
elaters, and various marine animals, which I have observed (such as
the crustacea, medusæ, nereidæ, a coralline of the genus Clytia, and
Pyrosoma), the light has been of a well-marked green colour.
[6] Kirby’s Entomology, vol. ii., p. 317.
[7] I find in Langsdorff’s travels (in the years 1803-7, p. 74),
it is said, that in the island of St. Catherine’s, on the coast of
Brazil, a butterfly called Februa Hoffmanseggi, makes a noise, when
flying away, like a rattle.
[8] Mr. Waterhouse has had the kindness to examine this butterfly,
but cannot discover any mechanism by which the noise is produced.
[9] I may mention, as a common instance of one day’s (June 23d)
collecting, when I was not attending particularly to the Coleoptera,
that I caught sixty-eight species of that order. Among these, there
were only two of the Carabidæ, four Brachelytra, fifteen Rhyncophora,
and fourteen of the Chrysomelidæ. Thirty-seven species of Arachnidæ,
which I brought home, will be sufficient to prove that I was not
paying overmuch attention to the generally favoured order of
Coleoptera.
[10] Don Felix Azara, vol. i., p. 175, mentioning a hymenopterous
insect, probably of the same genus, says, he saw it dragging a dead
spider through tall grass, in a straight line to its nest, which was
one hundred and sixty-three paces distant. He adds that the wasp, in
order to find the road, every now and then made “demi-tours d’environ
trois palmes.”
[11] Azara’s Voyage, vol. i., p. 213.