Some of the lanes, in which, on one occasion I lost my way, about dusk,
would have reminded me of those of the south of England on a fine
autumnal eve, were it not for the scattered palms and papaw trees in the
hedgerows, and the hedges themselves occasionally consisting of the
coffee plant, concealing clumps of banana and sugar-cane. The Cicadae
were singing their evening hymn from the branches overhead, and in due
time the fireflies came out in all their glory.

DREDGING IN BOTAFOGO BAY.

I had looked forward with eager anticipation to the result of the first
dredging of the Voyage. None of the ship's boats could be spared, so I
hired one pulled by four negro slaves, who, although strong active
fellows, had great objections to straining their backs at the oar, when
the dredge was down. No sieve having been supplied, we were obliged to
sift the contents of the dredge through our hands--a tedious and
superficial mode of examination. Still some fine specimens of a curious
flat sea-urchin (Encope marginata) and a few shells, encouraged us to
persevere. Two days after, Mr. Huxley and myself set to work in Botafogo
Bay, provided with a wire-gauze meat cover, and a curious machine for
cleaning rice; these answered capitally as substitutes for sieves, and
enabled us by a thorough examination of the contents of the dredge, to
detect about forty-five species of mollusca and radiata, some of which
were new to science. Among these acquisitions I may mention a new species
of Amphioxus, a genus of small fishes exhibiting more anomalies than any
other known to ichthyologists, and the lowest organisation found in the
class; it somewhat resembles the sand-eels of Britain in habits, like
them moving with extraordinary rapidity through the sand. By dint of
bribery and ridicule, we had at length managed to get our boatmen to work