116 TRAVELS A3I0NGST THE GREAT ANDES, chap. v. 



pervaded the grass, many very beautiful — frosted-silver backs, 

 or curious, like the saltigrades, who took a few steps and then 

 gave a leap. There were crickets in infinite numbers ; and 

 flies innumerable, from slim daddy-long-legs to ponderous, black, 

 hairy fellows known to science as Dejeanice ; hymenopterous 

 insects in profusion, including our old friend the Bishop of 

 Ambato, in company with another formidable stinger, with chrome 

 antennae, called by the natives ' the Devil ' ; and occasional 

 Phasmas (caballo de palo) crawling painfully about, like animated 

 twigs. ^ 



In the early morning it was generally fine, though seldom 

 clear. The weather always degenerated as day advanced, and at 

 noon the sun was scarcely ever seen. Soon afterwards gathering 

 clouds proclaimed a coming storm. When the thunder-echoes 

 ceased to roll between Corazon and Ruminahui, Jean-Antoine 

 and I used to turn out for our walks in the lanes of Machachi. 

 The short equatorial day was nearly over. The hum of the bee 

 and the chirping of the cricket had ceased, and the toilers in 

 the fields had already retired. We met no one, and there were 

 no sounds (except perhaps the distant notes of a reed-pipe 

 played by some Indian lad wending his way homewards) until 

 the frogs ^ began their music ; and when this presently died away, 



1 The following Beetles, first obtained at Machachi, are described in the Supp. 

 App., pp. 8-65 : — Anisotay'sus Bradyto'ides, Felmatellua variipes, P. oxynodes, 

 Pterostichus liodes, Colpodes alticola, Uroxys latesulcatus, Clavipalpus Whymperi, 

 Barotheus Andinus, ^ Baryxenux cequatorius, and Eurysthea angusticollis, by Mr, 

 H. W, Bates ; Philonthus Whymperi, * P. dwisus, Meloe sexguttatus, and Ananca 

 debilu, by Dr. D. Sharp ; Astylus Ms- sexguttatus (the most widely distributed 

 beetle in the interior of Ecuador, found almost everywhere between 9000 and 

 13,500 feet) by the Kev. H. S. Gorham ; and ^ Naupactus seguipes by Mr. A. S. 

 Olliff. Those marked by an asterisk were only found at Machachi. The rest 

 were subsequently obtained elsewhere, at similar, or at slightly higher and lower 

 elevations. 



2 Phryniscus hevis, Gthr. ; Hylodes unistrigatus, Gthr. ; and Nototrema mar- 

 supiatum (Dum. & Bibr.). The Hylodes (so-called ' tree-frogs ') were taken on the 

 ground. 



