' 1890.] EXPEDITION ON THE LOWBB AMAZON. 77 i 



Turning now to the harvest of the expedition, I may say at 

 onco that the coUecfions we brought home consisted almost entirely 

 of Arthropods. Mr. Pickard-Cambridge naturally devoted him- 

 self more parficularly to Spiders, since they are his speciality, 

 while I similarly looked after the Insects. But, apart from this, 

 Mammals, with the exception of Bats and Dolphins, were con- 

 spicuous by their absence, while, as we had no one to assist us in 

 sldnniug, it was impossible, in the time at our command, to do 

 very much among the Birds. Eeptiles and Amphibians were by 

 no means abundant, and such as were met with prove, with a 

 single exception, to belong to well-known and widely distributed 

 forms. Among the Fishes it might have been possible to do some- 

 thing, but unfortunately a trap which I had brought with me was 

 lost, owing to the breaking of a rope the second time it was put 

 overboard. 



MAM^^ALS. — The Lower Amazon and the adjacent waterways 

 (including the Pani Hiver and the maze of conned ing channels) 

 are sliut in by dense forests, in which the naturalist unaccom- 

 jianied by a guide might easily lose his way should lie venture far 

 from the narrow paths used by the rubber-gatherers. Around the 

 small towns, however, there are more or less extensive clearings, 

 while at Santarem there is a considerable tract of open country 

 ("campo"). But in the forest itself, in the short time at my 

 disposal, it was never possible to penetrate more than a few 

 hundred yards from the river's brink. The entire absence of 

 Mammals, or even of any traces of Mammals, in the forests near 

 the shore of the river was most striking. I had included in my 

 outfit a large number of traps of various kinds, but never found the 

 slightest opportunity of using them. The shores of the Parana 

 de Buyassu and the other narrow channels between the Pard 

 Eiver and the Amazon are low, and the forests near the water are 

 consequently exceedingly swampy, which may in some measure 

 account for the absence of Mammals at this particular spot ; but 

 once in the Amazon itself the shores are much higher, though in 

 many places, no doubt, still liable to submergence at the height of 

 the rainy season. 



A fair number of Bats was collected from time to time, most 

 of which flew on board the ship, but in the absence of Mr. Oldfield 

 Thomas they have not yet been examined, so that I am unable to 

 say anything about them. 



Freshwater Dolphins (Inia geoffror/ensis and Sotalia ivcuxi, or 

 S. fiuviatilis) were exceedingly common, especially in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the Parana de Buyassu and in the furo, or narrow 

 channel leading up to Monte Alegre. The former species, which 

 is much larger than the other and generally appears to be about 

 seven feet in length, is either wholly pink or flesh-coloured or else 

 entirely black or black above and pink beneath. I often wondered 

 Y'hether this difference in colour is sexual, as the two kinds are 

 nearly always seen in company ; anyhow the point would be well 



