THE RED nAIKY-TAIL. 279 



tritive power in a part of the roots ; and nourishment 

 may have been retarded, or oversupplied, in the 

 portions of the tree which have gone out of equi- 

 librium. Be it whichever it may of these causes, 

 the alternation of foliage and flowers has been 

 changed ; and a half, or less or more than a half, of a 

 Silk-Cotton tree may be seen in luxuriant summer 

 foliage, and the other parts bearing flowers and fruit 

 on a leafless stem, or suffering hybernation, and shed- 

 ding its leaves partially, while the other portions 

 of the vegetable giant stand up a marvellous pile 

 of verdure. 



" I do not wonder that you were not acquainted 

 with this characteristic economy of the Eriodendron, 

 for it requires a residence of five years in the colony, 

 or observations during two successive alternations of 

 flowers and foliage, and the commencement of a third, 

 to gain a knowledge of it." 



THE RED HAIRY-TAILED BAT. 



Immediately behind Bluefields, the road leading 

 to the mountain is crossed by the little river, which 

 spreads itself out in a brawling, rippling sheet of 

 considerable width, but scarcely more than mid-leg 

 high at the deepest. Here the black women and 

 girls assemble to wash their linen, choosing to come 

 several together, that gossip and jocularity may 

 lighten their labour. The berries of the Soap-tree 

 (^Sapindus saponaria) supply the place of soap, and 

 make with water a lather in no respect inferior to 

 that (to us) indispensable article of household econo- 



