WALKS FULL OF INTEREST 138 



caterpillars, about an inch long, of lovely pale green and bluish- 

 green colour, with markings of orange dots along the sides, and 

 four tufts of yellow hairs on head and tail. These are lying side 

 by side, half-a-dozen together on a leaf, and also appear per- 

 fectly torpid, for they do not move for several days together. 

 Here again, on a leaf, are about thirty small caterpillars, 

 about five-eighths of an inch long. These are seen to be striped 

 with dark lines, like black velvet, with delicate markings and 

 spots of bright yellow. These insects, like those just 

 mentioned, are motionless and crowded together, as if for 

 warmth. 



Walking slowly along, one notices a peculiar marking on a 

 twig ; this on close inspection is seen to be an assemblage of the 

 eggs of some butterfly or moth, about a hundred of them, arranged 

 in four or five regular rows, pretty minute globes, light greyish- 

 brown in colour, with a minute black spot on the top, and 

 hardly one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter. In bushes and 

 small trees, somewhat unsightly little bundles of leaves are 

 sometimes very conspicuous. These are bound together with 

 an irregular mass of web ; and cutting one of them open, it 

 is found to be full of the elytra of small beetles and the 

 chitinous portions of other insects, as well as leaves, forming 

 a closely compacted ball. This appears to be the work of a 

 small spider, which is generally found in some portion of the 

 nest. 



There are many pleasant walks in different directions through 

 the woods, some of them merely woodcutters' paths, and others 

 broader, where a palanquin can be taken. One cannot go far, 

 however, without having to go down steep descents and again 

 having a stiff climb ; but the variety of leafage, the frequent 

 occurrence of some beautiful flower or bright-coloured berry 

 or fruit, or gay insect makes a walk full of interest ; and when 

 we reach a high point there are extensive views over the un- 

 dulating masses of green foliage of very varied tints around 

 one, and the bare Ankay plain, with the distant lower forest, 

 twenty or thirty miles away, and fading into the distance north 

 and south. 



Reptiles are not very conspicuous in these woods ; one 

 seldom sees a snake, although probably the dense undergrowth 

 affords them sufficient concealment. In the outskirts of the 



