230 IN THE GUIANA FOREST. 



naturalist finds most interesting, but rather the 

 borders of the clumps of bushes, where, lightly 

 shaded, an assemblage of very interesting plants 

 are growing. Perhaps the most striking to a new- 

 comer are the species of Paepalanthus, which grow 

 in tufts, their rosettes of whitish hairy leaves, in 

 some kinds hardly bigger than the thumb-nail, 

 reminding him of the pretty cushion-pink so well 

 known in English gardens. Some species, very 

 common on the dry savannahs of the interior, are 

 much larger, with tufts as big as the top of a child's 

 head, their whitish bristly leaves closely resembling 

 the unkempt hair of some ragged urchin. Another 

 curiosity is the Schizsea dichotoma, a fern, the 

 leaves of which are more like those of a wiry 

 sedge than others of its family. But by far the 

 most handsome plants in such places are the 

 Cyrtopodiums, great orchids with long pseudo- 

 bulbs, rising two or three feet above the sand, 

 overtopping which stand panicles of splendid 

 golden flowers. Like some of the epiphytes these 

 harbour nests of ants among their roots, and 

 although it might easily be said that they have 

 come there by accident, we are of opinion that 

 such is not altogether the case. Here also grows 

 the Catasetum discolor, its curious hood-shaped 

 flowers and general habit showing signs that it 



