THE OAK-VEGETATION OF AMERICA, 13 
Orchidee, and Tillandsie. As soon as this Norte-period is over, the — 
Oaks begin to blossom. In the course of a few days they assume a 
splendid gold-coloured tint, owing to the countless aments which 
cover all the branches, the young leaves burst forth simultaneously, 
and scarcely eight days have elapsed before the trees again assume — 
their rich fresh foliage. It is a brief, but a distinctly marked spring, 
which in this manner unfolds itself. While this spring lasts in this and 
the preceding region, large cocoons of silk, of an ell in diameter, are 
seen hanging down from the branches of the Oaks. They derive their — 
origin from a gregarious sort of silkworm, which spins itself into a - 
large common habitation, which gradually increases in circumference. 
The worms leave the cocoons at night and spread over the Oak, in 
' order to devour the young foliage, drawing a thread of silk along with | 
them, which is fixed at one end on the outside of the cocoon; towards - 
morning they return again to their home, which is now enlarged by 
the addition of a new thread from each worm. In this manner about — 
800 silkworms associate together in one common cocoon, which thus 
become augmented at the rate of 1600 threads each. 
The period of ripening of the acorns is from September to November, — 
during which season the Oak-forests more than usually teem with life, 
on account of the many animals that are allured by the fruit. They 
resound with the screeching of numberless parrots, and the noise caused 
by the cracking of the nuts, which fall to the earth like dense showers” 
of rain, and are eagerly devoured by the Nasua, Procyon, and Dicotyles, 
and by squirrels. Short, regular knocks are heard, which might be taken - 
for those of some people at work cutting timber, but which will be - 
found to proceed from a handsome species of woodpecker, which the 
natives, on that account, call the carpenter (carpentero real), zealously oc- 
cupied in picking symmetrical rows of holes in the bark of the Oaks, in 
which it inserts acorns picked up from the ground. In the acorns a 
lodged unhatched insect eggs; and it is only some time after th 
maggot has consumed the kernel, that the woodpecker returns to break 
the nut, and consume the well-fed worm. 
We now ascend the Cordilleras to an elevation of between 6000 T 
1000 feet, where Pines begin to mingle with the Oak. The latter 
continue still to predominate, forming the leading constituents of 
forest; but further upwards they gradually decrease, being now 
ceeded by the Pines. The predominant species are Q. lancet 
