354 TiMEHRI. 



as if some one had fastened a dragon-fly's wings to the 

 head and body of a butterfly. A species pf Evania 

 exa6lly like the form found on the Coast, but having 

 whitish bases to its antennae, a green cockroach, and a 

 lire-fly with brown elytra also visited our midnight lamp 

 regularly. The fire-fly, when held in the dark, emitted a 

 pale bluish light Vy-hich gave to the part of the hand on 

 which it fell the same ghastly appearance that the ele6lric 

 arc light gives to any one standing under it. 



Of beetles, Euchroma (Buprestis) gigantea, the large 

 " sawman," (Prtonus cervicornis) and the steel blue Pha- 

 ncBus lancifer were by far the most common. The 

 latter could always be obtained in places where there 

 was any putrid or stercoraceous matter. 



In every nook and corner of the sandy floor of our 

 camp the larvae of the ant lion, Myrmeleon, constru6led 

 their small funnel-shaped pits, which we often obliter- 

 ated in order to see the little creatures excavate new 

 ones. Although the larvae is common both here and on 

 the Puruni river we have seen but few specimens of it in 

 the imago or perfe6l state. 



A handsome brown and green terrestrial lizard (Ame- 

 iva sp.) is common all over the Potaro distrifl, and in 

 some places is so tame that it can almost be captured 

 with the hand. I dug up several of their nests in an old 

 tail-race at the Rhodius Syndicate's placer on Turtle 

 Creek. Each nest contained from five to six eggs, about 

 an inch long and covered with a tough leathery skin 

 stretched tightly over the contents. Like its cousin the 

 salempenta (Tupinatnbis ntgropundlatus) , large speci- 

 mens will sometimes attack young poultry, and one day 

 while we were at breakfast one of them deliberately 



