96 ASPECTS OF TROPICAL NATURE 



paguri, and crabs, whose often brilliantly coloured carapaces 

 form a strong contrast to the black ooze in which they 

 are seen to crawl about. Life clings even to the roots and 

 branches bathed by the rising floods ; for they are found covered 

 with muscles, barnacles, and oysters, which thus have the 

 appearance of growing upon trees, and pass one half of their 

 existence under water, the other in the sultry atmosphere of a 

 tropical shore. 



The close-eyed Grudgeon (Periophthalmus), or "Jumping 

 Johnny," as he is more familiarly named by the sailors, plays 

 a conspicuous part in the animal world of the mangrove 

 swamps, where the uncouth form of this strange amphibious 

 fish may be seen jumping about in the mud like a frog, or 

 sliding awkwardly along on its belly with a gliding motion. 

 By means of its pectoral fins,, it is even enabled to climb 

 with great facility among the roots of the mangroves, where 

 it finds a goodly harvest of minute crustaceas. It must, how- 

 ever, not be supposed that " Johnny " has all the swamp to 

 himself; for though he manages to swallow many a victim, 

 he is not seldom doomed to become the prey of creatures 

 more wily or stronger than himself. A large and powerful crab 

 of the Grrapsus family may often be observed stealing, with 

 an almost imperceptible motion, and in a cautious, sidelong 

 manner, towards a Periophthalmus basking on the shore, and, 

 before the fish has time to plunge into the sea, the pincer of 

 the crab secures it in a vice-like gripe, from which it is per- 

 fectly hopeless to escape. While watching the evolutions of 

 this lively and sagacious crustacean, one cannot help comparing 

 it to an enormous jumping spider, which in a somewhat similar 

 manner creeps towards the flies on which it preys, and suddenly 

 surprises them by leaping on their backs, and then feasting on 

 their blood. 



This vast multitude of marine animals naturally attracts a 

 great number of strand, lacustrine, and sea birds ; for it would be 

 strange, indeed, if guests were wanting where the table is so 

 prodigally supplied. The red ibis, the snow-white egrette, the 

 rosy spoonbill, the tall flamingo, and an abundance of herons 

 and other water-fowl, love to frequent the mangrove thickets, 

 enhancing by their magnificent plumage the beauty of the scene. 

 For, howevt^r repulsive may be the swampy ground on which 



