• IN WESTERN LIBERIA 137 



and where the specific sea- as well as the sweetwaterfauna 

 loose their conditions of existence and decompose as soon as life 

 has left them , are the chiefbreeding places of the malaria which 

 makes this coast one of the unhealthiest of the whole globe. 



The huntsman who accidentally loses himself in such a 

 labyrinth may be glad to find his way out again. He sel- 

 dom extricates himself, in spite of all his care to climb 

 through the aerial roots , without sinking now and then 

 into a pool of mud , deceitfully covered with a thin blue 

 crust. And after having being- turned from his course , not- 

 withstanding the useful compass , by bottomless pools , he 

 is overpowered by a frightful agony , till these poison- 

 breathing pest-marshes are left behind. 



Who would , under such circumstances , expect in these 

 pestiferous marshes a rich animal life? And this is neverthe- 

 less the case, though they may look very deserted at first 

 sight. The hunter who in his small canoe penetrates the 

 Mangrove slowly along one of those black, narrow creeks, 

 will find the mud literally alive with myriads of larvae of 

 Mosquitoes , Libellulae and other insects , and upon this 

 mud are quickly moving to and fro , in every direction , 

 crabs in a state of lively animation , especially Sesarma 

 and Thelphusa, climbing along the aerial roots of the 

 Mangrove. On more open places along the creeks we meet 

 hundreds of beautifully colored Jumping Fishes [Perio- 

 phthalmus Koelreuteri which will , at first sight , pass for a 

 larval stage of some Amphibia on account of their man- 

 ner of living. The aerial roots, hanging into the water 

 along the creeks are , in some localities , covered with whole 

 bunches of Mangrove-Oysters [Ostrea arborea). 



On the branches of the Mangrove sit Ceryle maxima , 

 C. rudis and Halcyon m,alimhica , and flocks of green Pi- 

 geons [Treron calva) are feeding upon the buds of the 

 Mangrove. Farther back we meet with a colony of Ardea 

 atricapilla , and the White-headed Stork {Ciconia episcopus) 

 and the White Heron [Ardea alba) are wading in the shal- 

 low water. The higher Mangrove-trees , especially along 



Notes frora the Leyden Museum, Vol. VII. 



