THE LAKE OF PITCH. 



39 



we were troubled scarcely at all with noxious insects. " Jig- 

 gers" there were in moderate numbers but one could "col- 

 lect" more in one day in Virginia than in a month here at this 

 season. During our entire stay we saw only about three 

 or four minute ticks, while mosquitoes were absent, except 

 at night. If we dug in rotten logs, we were sure to unearth 

 centipedes and scorpions, many of them, but otherwise we 



FIG. 19. SCORPION AND ITS YOUNG TAKEN FROM MILADY'S SHOE. 



rarely saw them. Once, indeed, a mother scorpion (Centru- 

 ms margarUatus) with half a hundred young ones on her 

 back was discovered in a shoe, bringing to mind the old 

 nursery rhyme. 



AVc- found that much of the jungle was almost impene- 

 trable, and on one of our first excursions we were fortunate 

 enough to find a means of making the birds come to us from 

 the deeper recesses of the forest. As we left the doorway, a 

 silent little shadow fitted into the pommerosa tree in front of 

 us, and soon among the glossy leaves came a sound which we 



