Brazil 1832
Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle, 1845, Chapter I: St. Jago–Cape de Verd Islands, and Chapter II: Rio de Janiero.
[St. Paul’s Rocks] Not a single plant, not even a lichen, grows on this islet; yet it is inhabited by several insects and spiders. The following list completes, I believe, the terrestrial fauna: a fly (Olfersia) living on the booby, and a tick which must have come here as a parasite on the birds; a small brown moth, belonging to a genus that feeds on feathers; a beetle (Quedius) and a woodlouse from beneath the dung; and lastly, numerous spiders….
[Mainland] Do the very numerous spiders and rapacious Hymenoptera [insect family] supply the place of the carnivorous beetles?
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The number of spiders, in proportion to other insects, is here compared with England very much larger…. Every path in the forest is barricaded with the strong yellow web of a species….
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I found, near St. Fe Bajada, many large black spiders, with ruby-coloured marks on their backs, having gregarious habits. The webs were placed vertically … [and] 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.
