114 Mr. P. H. Gosse on the Insects of Jamaica. 



stead, and the summit of the Luana mountains, stands a little 

 cottage called by this name, singularly situated on a mass of bare 

 rock on the steep mountain-side. Above, below and around is 

 the primaeval forest, scarcely interrupted by the small and widely- 

 scattered clearings that here and there occur. From so singular 

 a position — the tops of the trees immediately beneath the little 

 space that surrounds the dwelling scarcely reaching to the level 

 of its base — the eye commands a magnificent prospect, embra- 

 cing the sinuous coast, from Pedro BluiF on the east as far as 

 Mount Edgecumbe on the west, ranging over the sombre inter- 

 vening forest with the cultivated openings, and resting on the 

 broad savannas and flooded meadows that surround Black River ; 

 this town with its bay and shipping in the distance, and the 

 course of the river itself visible at intervals, winding like a silver 

 thread through the dark morass. 



The high-road, passing just behind and above the cottage, 

 climbs the mountain in the zigzag direction so frequently adopted 

 in Jamaica, to diminish the steepness of the ascent ; and it is a 

 mile or two of this road that forms the most remarkable excep- 

 tion to the general scarcity of insects that I have noticed. During 

 the month of June the shrubs and trees that border the road 

 (which is cut through the forest) are alive with insects of all 

 orders, but particularly Coleoptera ; many species of Longicornes, 

 Lampyrida, Buprestidce, Cassididce, Chrysomelida, &c., occur by 

 hundreds on the twigs and leaves ; and the air is alive with 

 buttei'flies, Hymenoptera and Diptera. I cannot at all tell why 

 this abundance exists ; it is very local ; beyond a certain point, 

 the road, the forest, seem to be unchanged, but the insects have 

 ceased : it is very temporary also ; it suddenly commences about' 

 the end of May, and by the middle of July scarcely a dozen 

 beetles are seen where there were thousands. I might have sup- 

 posed it a casual thing, if I had had but one season's experience ; 

 but in 1846 it was the same as in 1845, the same abundance at 

 precisely the same season, and with the same local limits. It is 

 worthy of record, that at the same time and place the leaves of 

 the trees were studded with shelled Mollusca, of the genera 

 Helix, Helicina, Cyclostoma, &c., as I never saw them elsewhere. 



It is not improbable that some peculiarities in the geological 

 or the botanical character of this region would account for what 

 I have mentioned ; but I regret that of this I have no knowledge. 

 The mahoe {Hibiscus tiliaceus), the bastard cedar {Guazuma 

 ulmifolia), the mammee sapota [Lucuma mammosa), the locust 

 {Hymencea Coubaril) and the trumpet-tree {Cecropia Peltata), are 

 some of the forest-trees, with others called burn-wood and down- 

 tree, of which I know not the systematic appellation. But there 

 is one tree which grows numerously in that locality, which I 



