ITINERARY. xlvii 



111 some of tlie savannah copses, a few species of shells occurred, but 

 tliey were mostly old dead and broken specimens. They inchided sucli 

 forms as Buliimis ohlonyus, B.fratercidus, B. regina, Stenogyra octona, 

 Leptinaria lamellafa, etc. In some of the «lried vip swamps were 

 numbers of dried and broken apple-snails, of such apeciea i\.i^ ^-ivipidlaria 

 glaiica, A. jwpyracea, and A. corni'.-arietes, in most cases with very thin 

 and fragile walls, which often broke into fragments on slight pressure. 

 Lime was clearly deficient in the plants on which they fed, as it 

 markedly is from the Guiana soil generally ; and yet. about the i-ocks 

 and falls in some of the streams there were a couple of species of 

 jNIelania (J/, atra and J/, circuinsidcata) with shells of much thicker 

 and harder texture, as they are more frequently in the wateis of the 

 low lands. Crustaceans were seldom met with. On the burnt savan- 

 nahs were occasional fragments of a land-crab, and a living one was 

 once found among the rocks in a stream. Except the prawn already 

 described, a species of wood-louse was the only other member of the 

 group noticed. I sought particularly for that ancient type of oiganisin, 

 PeripatKS, but met with no reward, though in Georgetown and on the 

 coast generally specimens are not difticult to find. Certainly prolonged 

 investigation would bring to light many species of these various groups. 



Over the savannahs generally, on the slopes of the ridges and in the 

 valleys, but especially by tlie banks of the watercourses, among the 

 rocks and the clumps of trees, and by the moist and svAampy places 

 near steep rocky blufl's, tlieie were many flowering plants occasionally 

 brightening the picture, though many were small and only observed in 

 a near view. Many of them, collected on the tw o expeditions, were 

 new species, but mostly they w"ere common and widely distributed 

 over the countiy. Tiiey include such forms as the yellow Byrsonimas, 

 orange-yellow and purple-red Malpighias, yellow and pink Pavonias, 

 white and blue and purple convolvuli, pink and yellow and blue 

 passion-flov^ers, pink and white and yellow Ma-nde\illas, yellow milk- 

 worts, yellow Crotalarias and Clitorias and Cassias, red Mimosas, a, 

 lilac Dipeiyx, golden Poecilaiidras, fragrant white Eyrillas, large- flowered 

 fragrant Clusias, the large-leaved Archyttfa mtdtijlora with its large 

 and fragrant apple-like blossoms, white TeriistroemiaK, yellow and red 

 and purple Melastomas, white Kuellias, yellow Jussiieas, red Diantheras, 

 blue spiny Hydroleas, the striking many-flow ered white Tocoyena, a 

 peculiar l)lue iJidymocldamys, a rubiaceous species {Sipanea) looking 

 much like a crane's-bill, red Loganias, blue Solanums, pink Dioseras, 

 yellow ;ind blue bladderwoits (C^tricidaria and Ge.idisea), blue and red 

 and yellow gentians, a fluffy and long-podded Asclepiad (JJitassa), 

 small species of Pfpalanihus, white and yellow and red Bpidendrum — 

 the last of every \'ai-iety of shade, — a, fragrant yellow Cyriopodivvi, the 

 cpiaint lady's-slipper (I'liragmij/ed'mm), the hand.somo Cattlcya Lain- 

 renceaiia, with its rich pur])le-red flowers, magenta Sobralias, besides 

 many others — several of them extending up the slopes of Roraima. 



It is not too much to .say that detailed investigation over this great 

 di.strict mu.st add enormously to what is known of the flora. What we 

 know i.s the result merely of a few r;ipid journeys over tracks that are 

 like threads across the territory; and of the great mountains we have 

 •nily the re.siilts of a few fragmentary collections made on parts of one 



