120 FAUNA OF THE TROPICAL FOREST 
escape, and will even attack human beings if from any 
cause these are rendered incapable of defence or flight. 
The termites, or so-called white ants, are as a rule 
less obvious in the dense forest than in more open 
country, but some species do occur there. Other 
members of the same order form the beautiful stick 
and leaf insects, predatory forms which often show 
a marked resemblance to the vegetation among which 
they live. As well as with insects the tropical forest 
swarms with scorpions, spiders, including the large 
bird-catching form of South America, and ticks, which, 
like flies, serve for the transmission of deadly diseases. 
As most of these forms do not, however, show special 
adaptations to forest life, it is sufficient to merely 
indicate their abundance, which has a marked effect 
upon the life of other organisms in forest areas. 
We may add that, just as a few fish in tropical 
climates have taken advantage of the greater oppor- 
tunities which the land offers as compared with the 
sea to acquire partially terrestrial habits, so various 
crabs have become partially adapted for life on land, 
and wander about in those forest regions which are at 
no very great distance from the sea. to which they 
return for breeding purposes. 
REFERENCES. In regard to the animals of the African forests, Sir 
H. H. Johnson’s works give very full details, with many figures; see 
British Central Africa (London, 1897) ; The Uganda Protectorate (2 vols., 
London, 1902); Liberia (2 vols., London, 1906). Lydeker’s Game 
Animals of Africa (London, 1908) should also be consulted. Wallace’s 
Malay Archipelago (London, 1869) gives a fascinating account of the 
animals of that region, and the same author’s Tropical Nature (London, 
1878) may also be mentioned. Bates’s Naturalist on the Amazons (5th ed., 
London, 1884), and Belt’s Naturalist in Nicaragua (2nd ed., London, 
1888), give good accounts of South and Central American animals. For 
details as to the animals, reference should again be made to the natural 
histories already mentioned. 
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