38 Charles Darwin. 



under a spring catch." Later, when examined, the 

 butterfly was found to possess a drum, the organ 

 being found, according to Mr. Doubleday, at the base 

 of the fore wings, between the costal nervure and 

 the sub-costal. With the beetles Darwin was disap- 

 pointed : there were not so many large and attractive 

 forms as he had expected, though small ones existed 

 in vast numbers, and we find him expressing sur- 

 prise at the absence of carnivorous beetles when the 

 hot tropical country is the home of the carnivora or 

 flesh-eaters among larger animals. Bees and wasps 

 were so abundant that the thought was suggested 

 that perhaps they supplied the place of carnivorous 

 insects. 



Many hours were spent in watching the ant armies 

 traversing the wood, and experimenting to test their 

 intelligence and bravery. The habits of the wasp 

 were a constant source of pleasure to him. In the 

 corner of a veranda a certain species had made cell- 

 like homes of clay ; these they stuffed full of insects 

 of various kinds, which had been paralysed by the 

 sting of the wasp, and while helpless the eggs of the 

 latter were deposited in them, where they ultimately 

 hatched out, the grub obtaining its food from the 

 comatose victim. 



The habits of the larger wasps were also closely 

 studied, and the bull-dog- or bloodhound-Hke tenacity 

 of the creatures, now so familiar, observed carefully 

 for the first time. 



Darwin noticed that the number of spiders here 

 was greater, in proportion to other insects, than in 

 England. The jumping spiders particularly inter- 



