54 PARA. Cuap, IIL. 
slanting gallery, about two feet long, the sides of which he lines 
beautifully with silk. He is nocturnal in his habits. Just before 
sunset he may be seen keeping watch within the mouth of his tunnel, 
disappearing suddenly when he hears a heavy foot-tread near his hiding- 
place. The number of spiders ornamented with showy colours was 
somewhat remarkable. Some double themselves up at the base of leaf- 
stalks, so as to resemble flower-buds, and thus deceive the insects on 
which they prey. The most extraordinary-looking 
spider was a species of Acrosoma, which had two 
curved bronze-coloured spines, an inch anda half 
in length, proceeding from the tip of its abdomen. 
It spins a large web, the monstrous appendages 
being apparently no impediment to it in its work ; 
but what their use can be I am unable to divine. 
Coleoptera, or beetles, at first seemed to be 
very scarce. This apparent scarcity has been 
noticed in other equatorial countries, and arises, 
probably, from the great heat of the sun not per- 
mitting them to exist in exposed situations, where 
they form such conspicuous objects in Europe. 
Many hundred species of the different families 
can be found, when they are patiently searched 
for, in the shady places to which they are confined. 
It is vain to look for the Geodephaga, or carnivo- 
rous beetles, under stones, or anywhere, indeed, 
Acrosomaarcuatum. in open, sunny places. The terrestrial forms of 
this interesting family, which abound in England 
and temperate countries generally, are scarce in the neighbourhood of 
Pard—in fact, I met with only four or five species; on the other hand 
the purely arboreal kinds were rather numerous. The contrary of this 
happens in northern latitudes, where the great majority of the species 
and genera are exclusively terrestrial The arboreal forms are distin- 
guished by the structure of the feet, which have broad spongy soles - 
and toothed claws, enabling them to climb over and cling to branches 
and leaves. The remarkable scarcity of ground beetles is doubtless 
attributable to the number of ants and Termites which people every inch 
of surface in all shady places, and which would most likely destroy the 
larvee of Coleoptera. These active creatures have the same functions 
as Coleoptera, and thus render their existence unnecessary. The 
large proportion of climbing forms of carnivorous beetles is an interesting 
fact, because it affords another instance of the arboreal character which 
animal forms tend to assume in equinoctial America, a circumstance 
which points to the slow adaptation of the Fauna to a forest-clad 
country, throughout an immense lapse of geological time. 
The large collections which I made of the animal productions of 
Parad, especially of insects, enabled me to arrive at some conclusions 
regarding the relations of the Fauna of the south side of the Amazons 
Delta to those of neighbouring regions. It is generally allowed that 
Guiana and Brazil, to the north and south of the Para district, form two 
distinct provinces, as regards their animal and vegetable inhabitants. 

