368 Scientific Intelligence. — Zoology. 



ZOOLOGY. 



4. Miseries and Delights of the Forests of Guiana. — The task of 

 the naturalist in Guiana — even should he escape the seasoning in 

 Georgetown — is no holiday one, exciting though it may be to the 

 enthusiast. Indeed, before he reaches the promised land, from some 

 quiet nook behind the Goldener Aue, what dismal qualms of sea-sick- 

 ness must be endured, and perilous tossing in Atlantic gales ! Within 

 a few weeks after lauding, the colonial demon lays hold of him : and 

 life is barely recovered, after a desperate struggle, when all hope had 

 been expelled by the appearance of the " black vomit" — the first 

 case for " twenty years," indeed, of recovery from that stage of 

 yellow fever. The moment he enters the woods, insect terrors, ex- 

 ceeding in variety and fierceness the plagues of Egypt, fall upon, 

 creep over, sting and bite him, or treacherously suck his blood while 

 sleeping. Insidious chigoes — discovered too late — burrow in his 

 toes, and he cannot expel them at less than the cost of every nail, 

 and a general mangling of the flesh that lames him for months. 

 Then there is a bete rouge that nestles in "softer parts," that must 

 be driven out by sharp lemon juice and piercing needle work. Mos- 

 quitoes " murder sleep ;" — nay, are they not, in some moist seasons, 

 on the Pomeroon for instance, so fierce that not even hunger itself 

 can resist them ? He arrives after sunset, weary and fasting, — and 

 joyfully sits down to sup on Erythrinus Macrodon ; when lo I an 

 army of " yellow nippers" darkens the air. Human patience can- 

 not endure their bite, — from the untasted fish he rushes to the ham- 

 mock, — in vain ! They pervade all defences ; nothing remains but 

 " to quit the bed and pass the remainder of the night in raving about 

 the room like a bedlamite ! Ants are more formidable still, — because 

 of their organization and obstinacy. Some will hang their nests 

 loosely on impending boughs, which cannot be touched without risk 

 of the whole enraged colony falling upon him. Woe to the botanist 

 who, thinking no harm, reaches at some " fine specimen" of Till- 

 andsia, and shakes down with it a legion of these inveterate furies ! 

 Others migrate in dense squadrons, occupying every thing in their 

 way, driving out and eating up all insects and greens that come be- 

 fore them. The last is some compensation, indeed ; for they clear 

 the house of vermin, — but turn the master out of doors, the while. 

 He calls upon some friend, and finds the hospitable man bivouack- 

 ing under a tree ; grieved that he cannot offer his house, — for the 

 ants are now in it. There he sees them covering the walls like 

 arras, and hanging in great clusters from every projection. This 

 visitation will last, it may be, for a couple of days. But of all 

 ants defend him from the Ponera clavata — a " bad one," as the 

 Greek name implies ! This creature, whose ♦' long black body is set 

 with detached hairs," bites like a demon. 



