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TRANSACTIONS. 239 
beautiful, but it is on dead trunks and decaying stumps that one 
sees the finest plants of all: Bolbophyllums, Angraecum superbe 
with its long spikes, 18 inches long, densely covered with huge 
white flowers and A. sesquipedale with its enormous spur. Ferns 
_ of all kinds abound ; tree-ferns 20 feet high ; and in the deeper 
denser parts huge quantities of Hymenophyllum, as well as many 
of our common forms. The silence in these huge forests is some- 
times almost oppressive. Almost the only animals are the 
different kinds of lemurs, whose shrill whistling bark may occa- 
sionally be heard. Different species are adapted to play the parts 
of monkeys, squirrels, dormice, &c., none of which exist here. The 
larger kinds live in large bands flying from tree to tree, and feed 
on small birds, fruit, &c. Others live in hollows regularly hiber- 
nating, and to do this store up their winter food in their tails, 
which become extraordinarily fat and fleshy. Here the wild boar, 
really a Babiroussa, spends most of his time. He wakes up 
towards evening, and spends the night wandering about feeding 
on the pommejacot (Imbricaria). Sometimes one comes on huge 
furrows made by him when ploughing up the Lily bulbs, Dioscorea, 
&c. Sometimes he digs up the unfortunate Tenrec, a kind of 
hedgehog which hibernates below ground, and eats him, but his 
most favoured morsel is a snake. He begins at the tail and eats 
up the snake to the head, which he always leaves untouched. 
Towards morning he retires to a shady spot, and there makes a 
comfortable bed, covering himself with dead leaves and grass, 
where he slumbers till the evening. The only important carnivor- 
ous mammals are insectivore, the largest being the Fouche, a non- 
descript mastiff-like creature which one seldom sees. The 
whole of the animals are far less specialised structurally than those 
of the continent, while in habit they seemed quite as distinct. Of 
birds the handsomest are the Couas, with very beautiful bluish 
plumage ; there are also hoopoes ; several kinds of pigeons, one of 
which has a sort of whining bark very much like a small terrier ; 
a peculiar black starling also lives in flocks, flying from tree to 
tree. A bird called the “ Tolo,” a kind of cuckoo with an absurdly 
long tail, is very common ; it is very stupid, and never seems to 
realise that its tail can be seen when once it has concealed its head. 
Still, in spite of these exceptions, it is really insects, and especially 
butterflies, which give a little brightness and colour to the forest. 
Fifty or sixty brilliant blue and black butterflies fluttering above 
a little stream by the path are really a wonderful sight, and Red 
