210 



I at least eventually spent eleven of the best years of my life." We 

 are almost selfish enough to wish that the author were destined to give 

 us the results of another sojourn in some equally interesting locality ; 

 but he has returned, -and is among us, and, for more than our own 

 sakes, we cannot and do not really wish to part with him. 



But let us accompany the naturalist on his first walk into the 

 forest, and what are the sounds that break upon our ears ? " The 

 whirring of the Cicadas, the stridulation of the crickets and grasshop- 

 pers, the plaintive hooting of the tree frogs — all blended together in 

 one continuous ringing sound " during the brief twilight ; these are, 

 in the words of the naturalist, " the audible expression of the teeming 

 profusion of nature." Entomology, it is true, is only one of the 

 charms of the book, but it is on that portion that I purpose to make 

 a few remarks, and from which I shall make a few extracts. 



The majority of Entomologists I imagine, have always, like myself, 

 regarded Brazil as the country in which insects attain the largest size 

 and greatest beauty ; we have thought so because we considered that 

 its physical conditions were adapted for their production, and that it 

 was, in the words of Mr. Bates, " a glorious country, and the climate 

 one of the most enjoyable on the face of the earth," and, being such, 

 we believed its climatal conditions to be the cause. 



Mr. Bates thinks this notion an incorrect one, and he invites us to 

 compare members of those genera that are common to Northern Eu- 

 rope and Equinoctial America, and to ascertain which climate pro- 

 duces the largest and most beautifully coloured species ; by so doing 

 w'e should see the supposed effects of climate on nearly-allied conge- 

 ners, that is, creatures very similarly organised. The genus Cicindela 

 is quoted as an instance; the genus is common to both regions, and 

 about the same number of species are found in each ; but the Ama- 

 zonian species are much smaller in size and more obscure in colour^ 

 none being equal to the European Cicindela campestris. Again, of 

 eight genera of butterflies, only three are represented by handsomer 

 species in Amazonia than in Northern Europe. These positions are 

 no doubt perfectly true, and no doubt there is a very large number of 

 dull-coloured species in tropical countries ; but I do not find my 

 dreams entirely dispelled : I see the Megacephalse of dazzling bril- 

 liancy ; I see fossorial Hymenoptera of unrivalled size and beauty ; 

 and then I call to mind the host of glorious butterflies that live alone 

 in such paradisean regions as the forests and banks of the Amazons. 



Mr. Bates soon introduces us to the Formicidse, for ants we are told 

 were everywhere ; ants an inch and a quarter in length, marching in 



