234 THE TROPICAL WORLD. 



of the driimmer. Three or four of these noisy creatures will 

 sometimes be impelled to answer one another, and cause such a 

 drumming noise that none but those who are very good sleepers 

 can rest for them. What is most disagreeable, those who have 

 not gauze curtains are sometimes attacked by them in their 

 sleep ; the sick and dying have their extremities attacked ; and 

 the ends of the toes and fingers of the dead are frequently 

 stripped both of the skin and flesh.' 



According to Tschudi, the cucaracha and chilicabra — two 

 large species of the cockroach — infest Peru in such numbers as 

 almost to reduce the inhabitants to despair. Grreed}^, bold, 

 cunning, they force their way into every hut, devour the stores, 

 destroy the clothes, intrude into the beds and dishes, and defy 

 every means that is resorted to for their destructioru Fortu- 

 nately, they are held in check by many formidable enemies, 

 particularly by a small ant, and a pretty little bird {Troglodytes 

 audax) belonging to the wagtail family, which has some 

 difficulty in mastering the larger cockroaches. It first of all 

 bites off their head, and then devours their body, with the 

 exception of their membranaceous wings. After having 

 finished his repast, the bird hops upon the nearest bush, and 

 there begins his song of triumph. 



Many other insect plagues might be added to the list, but 

 those I have already enumerated suffice to reconcile us to our 

 misty climate, and to diminish our longing for the palm groves 

 of the torrid zone. 



Eivalling the mosquitoes in the art of tormenting man, and 

 perhaps even surpassing them in numbers, the equatorial ants 

 may truly be said to hold a despotic sway over the forest and' 

 the savannah, over the thicket and the field. It is hardly 

 possible to penetrate into a tropical wood without being, 

 reminded, by their stings and bites, that they consider the visit 

 as an intrusion, while they themselves unceremoniously invade 

 the dwellings of man, and lay ruinous contributions on his 

 stores. The inconceivable number of their species defies the 

 memory of the naturalist, to whom many are even still entirely 

 unknown. From almost microscopical size to an inch in length, 

 of all colours and shades between yellow, red, brown, and black, 

 of the most varied habits and stations, the ants of a single 



