68 A NATURALIST IN MEXICO. 



friends, he would yet be living, and Carlotta would not 

 have become the insane wreck she was. Veracruz was but 

 a days' journey away, and a French steamboat lay off San 

 Juan de la Ulua, ready to convey him across the sea. The 

 pressure of the church part}'', his own pride and the con- 

 fidence of Carlotta, decided his fate. 



We employed our few days in Orizaba to good advant- 

 age in collecting specimens abcut the town, and in the 

 valley, of which there were an abundance. The morning 

 after our arrival, I took my gun and walked out to see what 

 sport the valley afforded. The forest bordering the Rio 

 Blanco, which flowed through the valley, was extremely rich 

 and picturesque, although the soil was damp. In every 

 hollow flowed a sparkling brook with crystal waters. The 

 margins of the river were paradises of leafiness and verdure; 

 the most striking feature being the variety of ferns, with im- 

 mense leaves, some terrestrial, others climbing over trees. 

 I saw here some very large trees; there was one especially, 

 whose colossal trunk towered up for nearly a hundred feet, 

 straight as an arrow. Birds along this picturesque river 

 were very abundant. In several places near the river bank, 

 the natives had made their little plantations, and built lit- 

 tle huts. The people were always cheerful and friendly, 

 and seemed to be glad to assist us in any manner. King- 

 fishers, hawks, humming-birds, warblers, and finches, were 

 seen here in considerable numbers. In the brooks empty- 

 ing into the Rio Blanco, we found large numbers of 

 mollusks, the first quantity of living animals of this class 

 which we had seen while in Mexico. 



rJiysa and Limncpa were the most abundant. Z. 

 cubensis has a very wide distribution, being found from New 

 England, where it is known as L. umbilicata, west to Missouri, 

 and south to Cuba and the State of Veracruz. In the woods 

 bordering the stream we found the Texan Kingfiisher, the 



