158 TlMEHRI. 



rubbed, minute particles broke away and adhered to the 

 fingers as though a piece of phosphorus itself had been 

 handled. The superficial parts, however, were more 

 luminous, especially where small fungal growths were 

 distinctly noticeable ; and it is possible that the lumi- 

 nosity was attributable to this cause of decomposition, 

 whose minute mycelial threads would necessarily ramify 

 throughout the soft woody tissue. 



It is not often that, in a state of nature, instances of 

 decrepitude are met wich. The conditions of natural 

 life soon weed out from the struggle for existence those 

 that are infirm, whether from disease or old age, and 

 which are thereby incapacitated not only for acquiring 

 the means for their existence, but also for protecting 

 themselves against the dangers inseparable from life. 

 One such instance we met with in an old male " baboon" 

 or red-howler (Mycetes seiticulus), in which the whole 

 body was extremely emaciated, and covered with very 

 pale yellowish-grey hair, though its limbs, tail and beard 

 were considerably more normally tawny-red in their 

 colouring. Its beard too was very long and full, and its 

 teeth large and black. Altogether, it was simply what might 

 be described as a faded specimen of skin and bones. 



A little above Shipariparu, the site of our first, and, as 

 it happened, of our last Sunday's camp, we came upon 

 three fine specimens of our largest stork, the negrocop 

 (Mycteria americana) — the only ones we had seen on the 

 trip — standing on the bank like white-bodied statues, with 

 black heads and bills, and red-collared necks, distinctly 

 outlined against the yellow sand. They never gave the 

 chance of a range from the waterside, and, as though 

 scenting danger, always alighted so far from the forest 



