36 MEMOIR OP 



moisture entirely evaporate. When thus prepared, 

 the remaining mass is as palatable as the best 

 European biscuit. If the expressed juice be swal- 

 lowed by either man or beast, death ensues, ac- 

 companied with excruciating pains ; but when the 

 juice is boiled, it forms an innoxious and even a 

 pleasant beverage. Mr. Guilding mentions, that 

 by the act of boiling only, this juice is (in the 

 Demerara settlement) converted into the rich and 

 dark sauce called cassaripe. The native Indians 

 form of dark clay their pots which bear the name 

 of this sauce, serving to season the hunter's daily 

 meal ; and the colonist has introduced the custom 

 into his more luxurious dwelling. The plan is, to 

 throw into the cassaripe pot, which is never cleaned 

 or altogether emptied, the remains of meat and 

 poultry ; to add the sauce, and stir the compound 

 preparation, which is said to form a most delicious 

 meal. In order still further to embellish the above 

 plate, Madam Merian has introduced a fine mottled 

 snake in a gravid state, together with a group of 

 its eggs. The figure not noticed in the text, which 

 is miserably engraved, is the curious Membracis 

 foliata. Plates vn. vui. and ix. illustrate respec- 

 tively the various conditions of three splendid but- 

 terflies, Pap. Achilles, Nymphalis Amphinome, and 

 Pap. Nestor. The former of these plates is of con- 

 siderable value, as aifording an excellent repre- 

 sentation of one of the largest and most highly 

 ornamented of tropical butterflies, accompanied with 

 a good figure of the larva, which seems to be of 



