1874.] Tropical Zoology. 325 
free from carnivora? Cuba and Haiti would have afforded, 
in their glens and woods, ample and congenial lurking- 
grounds for the jaguar and the puma. Nor, to our know- 
ledge, have these islands ever been so populous and so 
civilised that such unwelcome inmates would have been 
extirpated. Ceylon is separated from the mainland of India 
by a shallow sea. If the general level of the waters were 
reduced by 1000, or even by 600 feet, the space between the 
island and the continent would be bridged over. Yet, on 
the authority of Sir E. Tennant, there are more points of 
disagreement than of resemblance between the respective 
animal and vegetable forms on both sides of the straits. 
We are not aware of the depth of the Channel of the 
Mozambique. But scarcely could two richly developed 
faunas differ more strikingly than those of Madagascar and 
of South-eastern Africa. The monkeys of the continent 
are, in the island, replaced by lemurs. The cats and the 
gazelles in which Africa abounds are, we believe, totally 
wanting in Madagascar. The inse¢t-world in particular 
shows a striking divergence. Madagascar is remarkably 
rich in those “‘ animated jewels,” the Cetoniade; but the 
species, and for the most part the genera, are distin@t from 
those of Southern Africa, and, where not peculiar, remind 
us rather of forms developed in the Malay Archipelago. 
But Mr. Belt’s work is so replete with interest that we 
must, unwillingly indeed, desist from any further scrutiny of 
his geological speculations. His instances of the intelligence 
of ants are highly instructive :—‘‘One day when watching a 
small column of these ants (Eciton hamata) I placed a 
little stone on one of them to secure it. The next that 
approached, as soon as it discovered its situation, ran 
backwards in an agitated manner and soon communicated 
the intelligence to the others. They rushed to the rescue; 
some bit at the stone and tried to move it, others seized the 
prisoner by the legs and tugged with such force that I 
thought the legs would be pulled off, but they persevered 
till they got the captive free. I next covered one up with a 
piece of clay, leaving only the ends of its antenne projeCt- 
ing. It was soon discovered by its fellows, which set to 
work immediately, and by biting off pieces of the clay, soon 
liberated it. Another time I found a very few of them 
passing along at intervals. I confined one of these under a 
piece of clay, at a little distance from the line, with its head 
projecting. At last an ant discovered it and tried to pull it 
out, but could not. It immediately set off at a great rate, 
and I thought it had deserted its comrade, but it had only 
WOES AV. (N.S.) 2.7 
