ANIMAL KINGDOM. 133 



feebled, and yields but scanty and insipid fruit. Other insects 

 deposit their larvae in many of our fruits, such as the guava, the 

 lemon-apple, the sapodilla, the star-apple, sour-sop, sugar-apple, 

 <fcc. ; but they show a decided preference for the guava, so much 

 so that seldom is a ripe guava without worms. Some of our 

 vegetables, and particularly the cajan, or pigeon-pea, are also 

 attacked by an insect, the larvae of which eat into the pod and 

 destroy the bean. 



Without dwelling on the many kinds of cock-roaches, blattae, or 

 butterflies, which are all numerous and common, it may be stated 

 here that the Fulgora laternaria has been found in the island. 

 There are also two kinds of grasshopper or cicada : one smaller, 

 with a gay, thrilling chirp; the other larger, with a tremulous, 

 graduated, and prolonged whistle : the former gaily celebrates the 

 arrival of the dry season, the other is the as melancholy fore- 

 teller of heat and rain. Locusts visit the shores at long intervals, 

 and make ravages similar to those of other countries ; caterpillars 

 also swarm over some parts of the island at periodical intervals of 

 eight or nine years, laying waste portions of pastures and corn- 

 fields. With regard to these visitations, it has been remarked 

 that both locusts and caterpillars make their appearance after long 

 periods of drought. In the year 1846, caterpillars visited 

 Mayaro and Couva ; and this very year (1855) they are depre- 

 ciating Coura and Savanetta. However, the cane-fields thus 

 traversed by these insects have not apparently suffered from such 

 molestations. Butterflies are numerous, and amongst them a few 

 beautiful kinds. It may as well be mentioned here, that there 

 exist in the island two species of caterpillars, the larvae probably 

 of moths, which, whenever placed in contact with the skin, 

 instantly raise a blister, causing a horrible burning sensation, like 

 that of a hot iron : they are one inch long, and covered with long 

 hairs of a fawn colour. 



Mosquitoes (Culex) and sand-flies abound in the low marshy 

 parts of the country, particularly near the sea. In some parts of 

 the interior, at Arouca, Arima, and Guanape, they are only seen 

 occasionally, and mosquito nettings to the beds may be dispensed 

 with. There are two distinct species of sand-flies; one very 

 small, of a gray colour ; the other nearly double in size, and 

 entirely black : the former is an inhabitant of the sea-shore par- 

 ticularly, the other of the interior. The black sand-fly becomes 



