INDEX 



MEL 



Melierca musicus, 395 



Melithreptes, or honey-eater birds of the 



South Sea Islands, 375 

 Melocacti, the pulp of the, 119 

 Melon-cactus of the llanos, the, 15 

 Melon, water, of the deserts of Africa, 63 

 Melville Island, scanty insect life on, 265 

 Membracida3 used as food by ants, 280 

 Menura, or lyre-bird, 376, 377 

 Mesembryanthemum, its admirable adap- 

 tation to the deserts of Africa, 64 



— various kinds of, 64 



Mexico, Gulf of, causes of the distribution 

 of rain in the, 10 



— New, influence of the heated plains 



of, in deflecting the trade-winds, 10 

 Mexico, geological formation of, 86 



— the iierra caliente, or lowlands of, 87 



— vegetable and animal life of, 87 



— the tierra templada, 88 



— the iiei'ra Jria, 89 



— the Agave Americana of, 116 



— the pulque of, 117 



— cultivation of vanilla in, 201 



— indigo cultivation in, 234 



— giant spiders of, 292 

 Micrometers, spiders' webs used for, 299 

 Mikania huaco, an antidote against snake- 

 bites, 314 



Millet (Sorghum vulgare), cultivation of, 166 



— the, beer, or dhourra, of the Nubians, 



166 

 Mimosas of the tropics, their beauty, 120 



— the Porliera hygrometrica, 120 

 Minelle, a kind of cobra di capello, 318 

 Mirage in the llanos in the dry season, 1 6 



— on the Amazons river, 55 



Miriki monkey (Ateles hypoxanthus), 532 

 Misantla, cultivation of vanilla at, 201 

 Mists of the Peruvian sand-coast, 39 

 Mocha, quality of its coffee, 193 

 Mocking-bird (Cassicus persicus), 87, 88, 



368 

 Mokuri plant, its importance to the in- 

 habitants of the Kalahari, 63 

 JMolasses, or uncrystallised sugar, 186 

 Moluccas, the, in the hands of the Dutch, 

 227 



— turtles of the, 347 

 MoUusks, 308 

 Monakhir dates, 143 

 Mongoos, or ichneumon, 322 

 Monitor-lizard (Tejus monitor), 76, 333 

 Monkey-bread tree. See Baobab 

 Monkeys of the primitive forests, 83 



— of the Sikkim mountains, 92 



— their destruction of the sugar-cane, 



186 



— their fondness for coffee berries, 197 



— not indigenous in Australia, 342 



— of the Old World, 514 



— tlieir climbing powers, 515 



— bad pedestrians, 515^ 



MUS 



Monkeys, contrasted and compared with man, 

 516 



— the chimpanzee, 517 



— the gorilla, 519 



— the uran, or wild man of the woods, 520 



— gibbons, 521 



— tlie semnopitheci, 524 



— the proboscis monkey, 525 



— the huniman, 525 



— the wanderoos of Ceylon, 525 



— the colobi and cercopitheci, 526 



— the magots of Gibraltar, 527 



— the baboon, 527 



— the maimon, 527 



— the mandrill and drill, 528 



— wide difference between the monkeys of 



the New and Old World, 531 



— Indian mode of taming a monkey, 534 



— the aluate, or howling monkey, 535 



— the spider monkey, 536 



— sakis, or fox-tailed monkeys, 536 



— the nyctopitheci, or nocturnal, 537 



— the duruculi and ouistitis, 538 



— its points of resemblance to the parrot, 



408 

 Monoho rhinoceros (R. simus), 441 

 Monsoon, the north-east, 9 



— the south-west, 10 



Montgomery, Mr , his introduction of gutta 

 percha into Europe, 219 



Moon-flower (Alango), the, 225 



Mora excelsa of the forests of Guiana, Water- 

 ton's description of the, 1 1 3 



Mormolyce, the Javanese, 270 



Morning in the tropical forest, 82 



Morocco, Empire of, laid waste by locusts, 255 



Morus tinctoria, 242 



Mosquitoes, 246 



— ferocious, of the river Seuza, 246 



— and of tropical America, 246 

 Mygale avicularia, effects of its bite, 296 

 Mosses of the Sikkim heights, 92 

 Moth, Atlas, of Ceylon, 267 



'• Mother of the Waters," Indian superstition 



respecting the, 53 

 Mountain: Donkiah, 89 



— Everest, 89 



— Kinchinghow, 89 



— Kinchinginga, 89 



— Korakorum, 89 

 Mountains : Andes, 89 



— Cordilleras, 89 



— Sikkim, 89 



Mozambique, mode of catching turtles at, 



347 

 Mule, the " ship of the desert" in Peru, 36 

 Mule-jenny, Crompton's invention of the, 



208 

 Mulgrave Archipelago, importance of the 



screw pine of the, 118 

 Mummy-coffins, wood of which they are 



made, 106 

 Musa paradisaica, 173 



