CHAPTER XL 



NATURAL HISTORY — ZOOLOGY — BOTANY. 



MAMMALIA. 



Trinidad fully realises what has been said of tropical regions in 

 general ; organic life is there at its summum, and some specimen 

 of existence is everywhere to be found. Not only is the surface of 

 the ground covered with some plant or other — here shrubs, there 

 gigantic trees ; here grasses, there lianes — but in every pool, in 

 the running stream, some alga is to be picked : the trunks and 

 branches of trees not only support lichens and mosses, but also 

 bromelias, epidendrons, ferns, and caladiums. Under the bark of 

 living and decaying trees, in the calices of flowers, on the stems 

 and leaves, are to be observed hosts of insects ; they are met with 

 again at the surface of the soil, and on turning up the vegetable 

 debris which contribute to form its rich superstratum of mould, 

 hundreds of the Entomological tribes are discovered. In the 

 copses and the recesses of forests, quadrupeds — above in the 

 dense foliage, birds — representatives of nearly all the genera of 

 their classes, are to be found : reptiles are to be seen coiled up, or 

 motionless on the watch, or stealthily gliding away. Not only 

 do our rivers, lagoons, ponds, and pools swarm with fish, alligators, 

 snakes, batrachians, and even chelonians, but they also afford a 

 receptacle for myriads of the larvae of mosquitoes and libellulse, 

 as well as of other insects and tadpoles. In the atmosphere, and 

 buzzing around, are heard coleoptera, hemiptera, hymenoptera, 

 and diptera, whilst beautiful lepidoptera are everywhere in quest 

 of flowers wherein to plunge their long spring-like suckers, and 

 arachnidans in constant ambush within their subtle web works. 



Evidently it would require many years of the lives of several 

 individuals to give an accurate and complete description of the 



