The Corcovado mountain offers a rich field to the botanist. I frequently visited the lower portions, but only once ascended to the summit. The ascent is from the N.W. side, and although rather steep in some places, may be ridden on horseback all the way up. Some of the trees on the lower parts of it are very large. The thick underwood consists of _Palms_, _Melastomaceæ_, _Myrtaceæ_, _Tree-ferns_, _Crotons_, &c.; and beneath these are many delicate herbaceous ferns, _Dorstenias_, _Heliconias_, and, in the more open places, a few large grasses. Towards the summit the trees are of much smaller growth, and shrubs belonging to the genus _Croton_ are abundant, as well as a small kind of bamboo. The summit itself is a large mass of very coarse-grained granite. In the clefts of the rocks grow a few small kinds of Orchideous plants, and a beautiful tuberous-rooted scarlet-flowered _Gesneria_. From this point a magnificent panoramic view of the bay, the city, and the surrounding country is obtained. The temperature at this elevation is so much reduced, that it is not difficult to fancy one’s self suddenly transported to a higher latitude. A strong breeze was blowing, and just before leaving, the top of the mountain became enveloped in one of those dark clouds which so frequently hang over it towards the beginning of the rainy season. Another interesting journey made during my stay at Rio, was to the Tijuca mountains, whither I was accompanied by a friend, and where we remained ten days. Instead of the direct road from Rio, we preferred the worst and more circuitous one which leads along the shore. Near the sea, and about fifteen miles distant from the city, rises the Gavea, or Topsail Mountain, so called from its square shape, and well known to English sailors by the name, of Lord Hood’s Nose. It has a flat top, and rises about two thousand feet above the level of the sea, to which it presents a nearly perpendicular precipitous face. We remained a night at the house of a Frenchman, who possessed a small coffee estate. The coffee is planted on the rocky sloping ground which lies between the base of the mountain and the sea. The situation is cool, and possesses a moist climate. Among the loose rocks at the foot of the mountain we made a fine collection of beautiful land-shells, and on the rocks by the sea-shore, we found the beautiful _Gloxinia speciosa_, which is now so common in the hot-houses of England, growing in the greatest profusion, and covered with flowers. Along with it grows a kind of wild Parsley, and twining among the bushes, a new kind of Indian cress (_Tropæolum orthoceras_, Gardn.). On the face of the mountain, at an elevation of several hundred feet, we observed some large patches of one of those beautiful large-flowered Orchideous plants which are so common in Brazil. Its large rose-coloured flowers were very conspicuous, but we could not reach them. A few days afterwards we found it on a neighbouring mountain,