AMAZONIAN VEGETATION 365 



vitreous); Podostemeae ; Polygoneae; Amarantaceae ; 

 Piperaceae ; Lauraceae (few) ; Chrysobalaneae (often 

 much infested) ; Combretaceae ; Myrtaceae (rarely 

 on true Myrtles, but a great pest to the large hand- 

 some flowers of the sub-orders Barringtonieae and 

 Lecythideae); Passifloreae; Cucurbitaceae ; Rubiaceae 

 (few out of the vast number of Amazon species) ; 

 Compositae (all weeds) ; Boragineae ; Verbenaceae ; 

 Bignoniaceae. Besides these, there are other orders 

 which contain a few species with mild juices, and 

 leaves (and even wood) not too tough for a cater- 

 pillar's jaws, which are doubtless chosen by certain 

 species of butterflies as food for their progeny ; and 

 nearly all the very large flowers are apt to be 

 plagued by caterpillars, as well as by the grubs of 

 flies and beetles. 1 



Some caterpillars seem to have a decided taste 

 for bitters ; and narcotics are rarely objected to ; 

 indeed, I should say that most insects are decidedly 

 partial to them, while bees and wasps seem to have 

 a positive pleasure in getting drunk. The very few 

 phyllophagous beetles whose habits have come 

 under my notice feed on narcotic plants. At the 

 falls of the Rio Negro, just south of the Equator, a 

 common weed in the village of Sao Gabriel is 

 Solanum jatnaicense, Sw., growing (when not dis- 

 turbed) to the size of a currant-bush, and bearing 

 large, angular, soft, woolly leaves. In February 1X5.' 

 there appeared swarms of a large black beetle whose 

 corpulent abdomen was barely half-covered by the 

 elytra (whence I suppose it an ally of our Melors), 



1 The above list has no further value than that of imliratini;. SO l:n as m\ 

 notes and recollections serve me, the kinds of plants which I li n m..>! 



maltreated by caterpillars in the Aina/on region. 



