320 ILLUSTKATIVE NOTES. 



In Guiana the dwellings of the termites are enormous hillocks, 

 fifteen feet in height, which men only venture to attack from a dis- 

 tance, and by means of gunpowder. You may judge, therefore, the 

 importance of the ant-eater, wliich dares to enter this gulf, and seek 

 out the horrible female whence issues so accursed a torrent. 

 (Smeathmann, Memoir e sur les Temmtes.) 



Does climate save us ? The termites prosper in France. Here, 

 too, the cockchafer flourishes ; and even on the northern slopes 

 of the Alps, under the very breath of the glaciers, it devours vegeta- 

 tion. In the presence of such an enemy every insectivorous bird 

 should be respected ; at least, the canton of Vaud has recently placed 

 the swallow under the protection of the law. (See the work of 

 Tschudi.) 



^is^ -^ ^-^^ 



Page 134. You frequently detect there a strong odour of mush. — - 

 The plain of Cumana, says Humboldt, presents, after heavy rains, an 

 extraordinary phenomenon. The earth, moistened and reheated by 

 the sun's rays, gives forth that odour of musk which, under the 

 torrid zone, is common to animals of very different classes — -to the 

 jaguar, the small species of the tiger-cat, the cabiai, the galinazo vul- 

 ture, the crocodile, the viper, the rattlesnake. The gaseous emana- 

 tions which are the vehicles of this aroma appear only to disengage 

 themselves in proportion as the soil enclosing the dehr'is of an innu- 

 merable quantity of reptiles, worms, and insects, becomes impregnate(i 

 with water. Everywhere that one stirs up the soil, one is struck by 

 the mass of organic substances which alternately develop, transform, 

 or decompose. Nature in these climates appears more active, more 

 prolific, one might say more lavish of life. 



