134 BLUEFIELDS RIDGE. 



the trees are tall, slender, and somewhat open in 

 growth, but the edge of the woods is formidable with 

 cutting Sedges, and spinous Solanece, relieved by 

 beautiful tufts of Cannce. Hereabouts Orchidecs are 

 very numerous ; almost every tree, from the size of 

 one's arm and upwards, being studded with masses of 

 pseudo-bulbs of various species, enwrapping the 

 trunks with their matted roots, and throwing out 

 their fleshy leaves and spikes of fantastic blossom. 

 Epidendrum ciliare, Maxillaria Barringtonice, Bras- 

 sia caudata, and other epiphyte kinds, grow here in 

 great luxuriance. Farther on, the road is bordered 

 by shrubby Gesneracece, of which the curious Rhy- 

 tidophyllum tomentosum, with its woolly spindle- 

 shaped leaves, and branches of pale green flowers, 

 and another species called Glass-eye berry, from its 

 forming the principal food of the Thrush of that 

 name, are pre-eminently abundant. Here and there 

 the immense leaves of the wild plantain (^Heliconia), 

 of the most delicate green hue, wave out from the 

 more ignoble bush ; and, looking in, we see a clump 

 of these magnificent plants, and catch sight of their 

 massive branches of blossom, enveloped in great boat- 

 like bracts of richest scarlet. Looking over the 

 forest from an eminence, the eye is attracted by the 

 elegant Mountain-pride {Spathelia simplex) rising 

 here and there above the mass ; a beautiful tree, 

 whose straight slender stem, terminated by a crown 



an opportunity of seeing other specimens, and of finding that this was 

 an error. The eggs are pure ivory-white, unspotted. The spots that 

 deceived him, were probably stains produced by the earth in which 

 they had lain. 



