ANIMAL LIFE IN THE FOREST 65 



away, as I had no means of preserving them to take up to the 

 capital. 



In some parts of the woods the different species of bamboo 

 give quite a distinct character to the vistas. Some of them 

 shoot up in one long slender jointed stem, with fringes of delicate 

 leaves, and hang over the paths like enormous whips. Another 

 kind, a climbing species, with stems no thicker than a quill, 

 clothes the lower trees with a dense mantle of pale green 

 drapery. As we got into the higher and cooler parts of the 

 forest, numbers of the trees had long pendent masses of feathery 

 grey lichen, a species of Usnea, giving them quite a venerable 

 appearance, and reminding me of the opening lines of Long- 

 fellow's " Evangeline " : 



" This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks, 

 Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight, 

 Stand like Druids of old, with voices sad and prophetic, 

 Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms.'- 2 



Although the vegetation was most luxuriant, I was surprised 

 and somewhat disappointed by the stillness of the forest, and 

 the few signs of animal life and the rarity of the song of birds. 

 It is true that at certain seasons the notes of many songsters 

 may be heard, and that in certain places the cries of different 

 species of lemur resound through the woods. Still, on the 

 whole, I had imagined that a tropical forest would be much 

 more visibly full of life. Subsequent experience and research 

 showed me that there is a considerable variety and number of 

 living creatures in these forests, but they have to be looked for, 

 and when found they are full of interest, as we shall see. It 

 may be noticed, too, that both bird and insect life are more 

 evident in the outskirts of the woods and in the occasional 

 openings among the trees than in the densest forest, all living 

 things delighting in sunlight. 



From what has been already said it will be seen that the 

 flora of Madagascar presents many new and striking forms of 

 vegetable life ; but its fauna is still more noteworthy, for it 

 presents one of the strangest anomalies in the geographical 

 distribution of animals. This zoological peculiarity consists 

 as much, or more, in what is wanting, as in what is present. 

 Separated from Africa by a channel not three hundred miles 



