ISO IN THE GUIANA FOREST. 



outside, but never really injured as far as the 

 germinating power is concerned. These little 

 creatures hang in large numbers about the festoons 

 of creepers which border the creeks or inside 

 hollow trees, and do a great deal towards dispers- 

 ing the seeds by bringing them within reach of 

 the flood. As nearly all of them float they are 

 carried down the stream and scattered in a thousand 

 places which otherwise they could never reach, even 

 finding their way to the shores of Africa, Portugal, 

 and England. 



Without the flowers and fruit the forest would 

 be entirely deprived of animal life, and in the 

 absence of the clouds of insects not a seed could 

 be perfected. The interdependence is so close that 

 they appear as if striving with each other to see 

 which can get ahead. Trees secrete poisonous 

 juices to keep off larvae, but the caterpillars do 

 not mind that. They only develop a greater 

 power of digestion and assimilation so as to be 

 able to thrive on the poison. However dry and 

 harsh, thick and leathery, hairy, scaly or bristly, 

 the leaves may be, some insect can be found 

 capable of devouring them without injury to itself. 

 It would never do for a plant to lay itself open 

 altogether to their attacks, as then its extinction 

 would be certain, therefore it tries its best to ward 



