260 JUNGLE PEACE 



some flat-shelled, others turreted. Tiny earth- 

 worms, bright red and very active, crept slowly 

 through fungus jungles until disturbed, when 

 they became an amazingly active tangle of 

 twisting curves, dancing all about. Simple in- 

 sects, which we shall have to call collembolas, 

 were difficult to capture. They leaped with 

 agility many times their own length, and when 

 quiescent looked like bits of fungus. As for the 

 rest, only Adam and a few specialists hidden in 

 museums could call them by name. They were 

 a numerous company, some ornamented with 

 weird horns and fringes and patterns, others 

 long of legs or legless, swift of foot or curling 

 up into minute balls of animate matter. 



One thing was evident early in my explora- 

 tion: I was in a world of little people. No 

 large insects were in any of the debris. The 

 largest would be very small in comparison with 

 a May beetle. And another thing was the dura- 

 bility of chitin. The remains of beetles, consid- 

 ering the rareness of living ones, were remark- 

 able. The hard wing-cases, the thorax armor, 

 the segments of wasps, eyeless head masks, still 

 remained perfect in shape and vivid in color. 

 Even in the deepest layers where all else had 



