THE KOMANCE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



in one region — the Valley of the Amazon, — devot- 

 ing his whole time and energy to searching after 

 butterflies, yet finds new species turning up, in 

 almost unabated profusion, and that every little 

 district visited, though but a few miles distant 

 from the last, has its own peculiar, though allied 

 kinds, we may form some idea of the vast variety 

 and abundance of unknown insects which the 

 almost boundless forests of South America have 

 yet to yield to scientific enterprise. 



Yet in all this profusion, it is almost wholly 

 new species of already recognised genera that con- 

 stitute the reward of perseverance. It is com- 

 paratively rare to capture a butterfly so different 

 from anything before known as to warrant the 

 formation of a new genus ; and the occurrence of 

 a new family is almost out of the question. 



Then, again, throughout that immense region, 

 so little explored by competent naturalists, we 

 can assert with a measure of confidence that no 

 great mammal, scarcely any conspicuous bird, is 

 at all likely to be added to those already known, 

 with the exception of additional species of char- 

 acteristic and large groups, such as the trogons, 

 the tanagers, the toucans, or the humming-birds. 

 At the same time, we may well believe that many 

 of the smaller mammalia, and a still greater num- 

 ber of the sombre-coloured birds, have been as yet 

 unnoticed. 



It is, however, possible that a great anthropoid 

 ape may exist, as yet unrecognised by zoologists. 

 On the cataracts of the upper Orinoco, Humboldt 

 heard reports of a "hairy man of the woods," 

 which was reputed to build huts, to carry off 

 women, and to devour human flesh. The first and 

 second of these attributes are so characteristic of 

 the great anthropoid Simise of Africa, that, unless 

 264 





