622 BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 
The Mammalia have never been better studied here. 
than the vegetable productions of this country. There are 
Quadrumanes yet undescribed, and much time must elapse 
ere all our Cheiroptere are known in Europe. The genera 
Canis, Mustela, Viverra, Felis, Didelphys, Mus, Echimys, and 
Cervus require much attention. Still more remains to be 
done with the birds of this colony. The genus Falco, in- 
cluding its subdivisions, is particularly rich; there are, say, 
one hundred and twenty different species, and though many 
be, doubtless, already described, still, numerous novelties ex- 
ist. One of our Eagles is pure white ; and there is a Falcon 
much larger than the Falco Harpya, and not agreeing exactly 
with the description of that bird; it measures fifteen feet 
from tip to tip of the wings, is crested, gray with a white 
belly, and the lower part clothed with feathers, which might 
form an article of commerce for a lady's head-dress. This is 
the most daring bird I ever met with; he finishes a whole 
Mycetes Seniculus at a meal, and will swoop down upon a 
full-grown hunting-dog, sitting in a canoe between the Bush 
Negroes, and carry it aloft in his talons. There are a great 
number of new birds, of smaller size than the species of 
Falco; this is eminently the case with the genus Trochilus 
and its sub-divisions, for we possess more of them in this 
colony alone, than Cuvier has described, putting all his to- 
gether. I should not wonder if many of our salt-water fish 
were unknown, and this is indubitably the case with those 
in fresh water. Snakes and frogs are found in great variety, 
both as respects colour, form, and size. The beauty of our 
insects is as striking as their number; in general, the Lepi- 
doptera of this colony are finer coloured than those from 
India; and limiting my researches only to one small tract of 
land, I discovered almost daily some species that 1 had 
never seen before. The Coleoptera, too, are numerous, and 
many of them very singular in their form. I regret that 
I have been hitherto unable to comply with your wishes 
regarding Humming-birds, Beetles, and living Plants, for the 
reasons I have sufficiently given above. But even if | pos- 
