336 APPENDIX. 



ON THE NOCTUENAL LIFE OF ANIMALS IN THE 

 FOREST. 



In one of the most attractive of the works of Humboldt, entitled 

 " Views of Nature," — a collection of thoughts and personal observa- 

 tions in connection with some of the grandest objects of nature in 

 various parts of the world, visited by the great naturalist — appears 

 an interesting fragment, called " The Nocturnal Life of Animals in 

 the Primeval Forest," suggesting to me comparative remarks on 

 animal life in our own sombre woodlands. 



The great writer, in the commencement of this chapter, describes 

 the scene of his observations, coupled with some decisive remarks of 

 his own on the nature of a primeval forest, which I think it well to 

 introduce here. The scene is a boundless forest district which, in 

 the torrid zone of South America, connects the river basins of the 

 Orinoco and the Amazon. " This region," says Humboldt, *' deserves, 

 in the strictest sense of the term, to be called a primeval forest — a 

 term that in recent times has been so frequently misapplied. 

 Primeval (or primitive), as applied to a forest, a nation, or a period 

 of time, is a word of rather indefinite signification, and generally but 

 of relative import. If every wild forest, densely covered with trees 

 on which man has never laid his destroying hand, is to be regarded 

 as a primitive forest, then the phenomenon is common to many parts, 

 both of the temperate and the frigid zones. If, however, this 

 character consists in impenetrability, through which it is impossible 

 to clear with the axe between trees measuring from 8 to 12 feet in 

 diameter, a path of any length, primitive forests belong exclusively 

 to tropical regions. This impenetrability is by no means, as is often 

 erroneously supposed in Europe, always occasioned by the interlaced 

 climbing * lianes,' or creeping plants, for these often constitute but 

 a very small portion of the underwood. The chief obstacles are the 

 shrub-like plants which fill up every space between the trees in 

 a zone where all vegetable forms have a tendency to become 

 arborescent." 



Now, our North American fir forests — especially in districts where 

 woods predominate, and the growth of timber is large — have so 

 frequently (generally) been termed " primeval," that we are bound 

 to inquire into the justice of Humboldt's very decisive statement of 

 his own views of the etymology of the word. He claims the title for 

 the South American forest from its impenetrability, and not from, 

 what would seem to me a much more distinguishing feature, the 



