rose-coloured flowers, the splendid _Cattleya labiata_, which a few days before we had seen on the Gavea. The following year, on my return from the Organ Mountains, I again visited this spot, and found that a great change had taken place. The forest, which formerly covered a considerable portion of the summit, was now cut down and converted into charcoal; and the small shrubs and _Vellozias_ which grew in the exposed portion, had been destroyed by fire. The progress of cultivation is proceeding so rapidly for twenty miles around Rio, that many of the species which still exist, will in the course of a few years, be completely annihilated, and the botanists of future times who visit the country, will look in vain for the plants collected by their predecessors. Other excursions to the islands in the bay, and to Jurujuba, on the opposite side of it, were also productive of many interesting species of plants. It was at the latter place, on dry bushy hills, that I first saw the really beautiful _Buginvillea spectabilis_ growing wild. It climbs up into the tops of the bushes and trees near which it grows, and the brilliant colour of the flowers, which it produces in the greatest profusion, renders it conspicuous in the woods at a great distance. This, as well as the equally beautiful _Bignonia venusta_, are much cultivated as ornamental climbers in the suburbs. Before leaving Rio, I visited the Botanic Garden, and the Museum of Natural History. The former, as has already been observed, is situated at the foot of a valley near the sea, about eight miles to the south-west of the city. It is more a public promenade than a Botanic Garden, for, with the exception of a few East Indian trees and shrubs, and a few herbaceous European plants, there is but little to entitle it to that name. Of the immense number of beautiful plants indigenous to the country, I saw but few. The European botanist is, however, well recompensed for his visit, by the sight of some large Bread-fruit trees and the Jack, with its much smaller entire leaves, and monstrous fruit pendent from the stem and large branches. There are also some fine Cinnamon and Clove trees. Near the centre of the garden several clusters of Bamboos, with stems upwards of fifty feet in height, give it a marked tropical character. The avenue which leads up from the entrance, is planted on each side with the pine-like _Casuarina_. It is on a piece of ground, about an acre in extent, on the left hand side of this avenue, that the Tea plants grow which were imported from China by the grandfather of the present Emperor. It was thought that the climate and soil of Brazil would be suitable for its cultivation, but the success of the experiment has not equalled the expectations which were formed of it, notwithstanding that the growth of the plants, and the preparation of the leaves, were managed by natives of China accustomed to such occupations. In the province of San Paulo a