116 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



SOME NOTES ON NIGERIA. 

 By a, D. Hardy. 



{Read before the Field Naturalists'' Club of Victoria, llth Nov., 1902.) 

 (abstract.) 



The Niger, which rises near Sierra Leone and flows towards the 

 Saharan desert, turns near Timbuctu, and flows south east and 

 south towards the Gulf of Guinea, finally bifurcating and ramify- 

 ing into a labyrinth of channels through the great mud flats of 

 the delta. The deltaic area measures about 200 miles from 

 apex to coast, and has a sea fronlage of about 250 miles. 

 Further to the east the country is drained by two rivers, the 

 Cross and the Calabar, which have no known connection with 

 the Niger, and reach the Bight of Biafra by a common estuary. 

 On each side of the estuary, which is 10 miles wide at its mouth, 

 numerous creeks and ana-branches reticulate the mud reaches. 

 As in the Niger delta, these mud flats are covered with man- 

 groves. The junction of the Cross and Calabar Rivers is 

 about 60 miles from the sea, and at a few miles up the Calabar 

 (lat. 4^ deg. N.) is situated Duketown, which has a population, 

 comprising Efik negroes, of about 8,000 or 10,000, and about 90 

 white men. 



The vegetation of the low-lying tracts is chiefly mangrove scrub 

 and palms. Of the mangrove there are two species, viz., Rhi^so- 

 phora racemosa and li. mangle. The peculiarities of the man- 

 groves are pretty well known. The spreading, much-exposed 

 roots, and the germination of the seed while the fruit is still 

 attached to the tree, being common to most of the species. 

 These mangrove and mud areas are a paradise for the Crocodiles, 

 Crocodilus tdlotvms, some of which I estimated to be over 15 feet 

 in length. 



Further up the rivers, practically out of tidal influence, Hip- 

 popotami may be found, but I have seen no more than their 

 clumsy-looking snouts above the water at a distance. 



Several species of Monkey, mostly small, climb and chatter in 

 the scrub. Monkey flesh is commonly sold in the native markets, 

 and has nothing objectionable about it in taste when stewed in 

 palm oil. One species, less common, is a brown animal, stand- 

 ing on all fours about 2 feet high. The head and forearms black; 

 tail long and non-prehensile. 



A large dipterous insect resembling a huge blue-bottle haunts 

 the mangrove scrub, and has, in common with our March-fly, a 

 silent flight. It inflicts a bite which causes some days of pain 

 and discomfort. 



One species offish specially interesting is to be found skipping 

 about on the mud or resting high, and almost dry, on a snag or 

 mangrove root. Length, 4 to 5 inches; colour, mottled brown, with 



