Aprit 8, 1915] 
NATURE 
149 

including a new one made on the way, 
visions, ropes and pulleys, and one of the crew. 
A dog was killed by unseen Indians, the outfit 
had to be cut down to the utmost, and the sadly 
shrunk provisions had to be supplemented by 
palm-tops, fish, nuts, and an occasional monkey 
or wood-fowl. Illness, and a case of murder 
amongst the crew added to the depression. 
Things were at their worst, when the river 
became more manageable, and when, on April 15, 
they came to the first house of rubber men, who 
informed them that they were on the Castanho 
river, about fifteen days from its confluence with 
the Aripuanan. This happened at 10° 24’. Hence- 
forth, they enjoyed every help, and on April 26 
they made the mouth of the Castanho, at 7° 34/, 
where Lieut. Lyra was encamped, waiting for the 
explorers. On the last of the month all “the par- 
ties met at Manaos. By discovery and piecing 
together they had put on the map a new river; 
with pro- 
Fic. 2 Fe uide of the Duvida. From ‘ 
allowing for unknown headwaters and the wind- 
ings of its whole, rather straight course, amount- 
ing to a total length of 1000 kilometres, not miles. 
This river enjoys now an abundance of names. 
Duvida + Castanho + Lower Aripuanan = Rio 
Roosevelt, as proclaimed officially by Colonel 
Rondon, but in one of the two maps of the book 
it is called Rio Teodoro. It was a very successful 
expedition, its object having been obtained in the 
way it had been planned. 
The various collections amounted to the great 
number of 3000 birds and mammals. Concerning 
the description of the country, its people, fauna, 
and flora, the narrative divides itself naturally 
into two parts. Soon after reaching the Duvida 
the pleasant occupation of collecting and observing 
had to give way to dangerous toil, the ways and 
means of getting through at all. Up to the divide 
Colonel Roosevelt had a glorious opportunity of 
indulging in the study of nature in her most 
NOw 2371, VOL. O5)| 


‘Through the Brazilian Wilderness.’ 

varied aspects. He kept his eyes open, and, with 
a pleasant style, shows his delight whenever he 
comes across some creature he had not seen 
before. At the outset, at a visit to the serum- 
therapeutic institute at Sado 
on snakes and their 
Paulo, we get a lecture 
poison, and he assisted in 
experimenting with the mussurana, a_snake- 
eating, harmless, immune snake. But we are not 
told its scientific name (Rhachidelus brazili, Blgr.) 
one of many similar regrettable instances in his 
book. The technical names are, of course, the 
bane of the vast majority of readers. Vernacular 
names are preferable, but there is a_ limit, 
and two words in brackets would satisfy every- 
body. 
He speculates whether the white-tailed deer 
is an immigrant from the Northern Continent, 
arguing from the season of the shedding of 
its antlers. The marsh-deer, with its adver- 
tising red coloration, is just as successful as 
the black- and the white- 
tailed deer, which are 
found in the same neigh- 
bourhood. “Evidently it 
is of no survival conse- 
quence whether the run- 
ning deer displays a 
white or a black flag.” 
Pumas, ocelots, jaguars, 
spotted or quite black, 
were killed in the same 
locality. “In many cases 
coloration is of no conse- 
quence whatever; instead 
of being a survival factor, 
it becomes negligible 
through the other factors 
of overwhelming import- 
ance, as habits, clever- 
ness, etc. Thus speaks 
the experienced — sports- 
man Jon | one oi bis 
favourite subjects. On 
another occasion he is 
puzzled why the jaguar 
to escape dogs, “for ages 
there were in its’ habitat 
any natural which it needed to seek 
safety in trees.” Such and similar arguments 
usually do not come to much, but they are samples 
of scores that he did not go out merely to bag 
his jaguar. Birds, beasts, coral snakes, and 
piranha fishes, toads and ants, and_ primitive 
natives, he has something to say about, not 
always new, but to the point. 
Eve ery naturalist will agree with him that the 
mere collecting for museums is all very well, to a 
certain extent, a necessary evil, but what is now 
wanted are observations of the economy of the 
creatures, parts of their environment. To 
secure such information, send out educated men 
who can give a readable account of their experi- 
ences. With exception of the two very sketchy 
maps most of the fifty illustrations are beautiful 
and characteristic. H. G. 
” 
should climb trees 
have passed since 
foes from 
as 
