EICH VEGETATION. 167 



Potlios, the curious Cyclanthus, or frowning nettles, some 

 of the latter from ten to twelve feet hiu-h. But how to 

 describe the numberless treasures which everywhere strike 

 the eye of the wandering naturalist? 



" To reach the Chorro, or Cascade, you strike to the right 

 into a ' path ' that brings you first to a cacao plantation, 

 through a few rice or maize fields, and tlien you enter the 

 shade of the viriiin forest. Thousands of interestino,- objects 

 now attract your attention : here, the wonderful Xorantea or the 

 resplendent Calycophyllum, a Tabernaemontana or a Faramea 

 filling the air afar off with the fragrance of their blossoms ; 

 there, a graceful Heliconia winking at you from out some 

 dark ravine. That sli rubbery above is composed of a species 

 of Bcehmeria or Ardisia, and that scarlet flower belonc^s to 

 our native Aphelandra. In the rear are one or two Philo- 

 dendrons disagreeable guests, for their smell is bad enough, 

 and they blister wdien imprudently touched. There also you 

 may see a tree-fern, though a small one. Nearer to us, and 

 low down beneath our feet, that rich panicle of flowers belongs 

 to a Begonia ; and here also is an assemblage of ferns of the 

 genera Aspleniura, Hymenophyllum, and Trichomanes, as 

 well as of HepaticfB and Mosses. But what are those 

 yellow and purple flowers hanging above our heads ? They 

 are Bignonias and Mucunas creepers straying from afav, 

 which have selected this spot, where they may, under the 



