ITINEKARY. XXI 



the small, often close, undergrowth. During such partial floods an 

 astonishing assemblage of insects and arachnids, the latter especially, 

 mny be met with clinging together on the leafy tops of the small stems, 

 all apparently too much occupied in securing their safety in the flood 

 than in troubling themselves about attacking each other or about being 

 attacked. A passage through undergrowth under these conditions, in 

 puris naturalibus, was once a noteworthy experience on a trip between 

 the Upper Demerara and Essequibo rivers, in the neighbourhood of 

 the Great Falls. On a short journey from camp to the Mabooroo 

 Mountain, we had stripped in order to cross a temporarily flooded 

 valley, carrying our clothes aloft to keep them as ;lry as possible for 

 camping at night ; and it was with dread that we saw that, under the 

 heavy forest, the small undergrowths against which we were continually 

 brushing, were thick, above the water, with a clinging mass of scorpions, 

 centipedes, and spiders of all sorts, also the somewhat rare Phrynus 

 reniformis, which, under its local name of " ting-ting," has such a 

 bad reputation for its "sting," besides caterpillars, bush-cockroaches, 

 ants, beetles, etc., of all sorts and sizes. Though we had to wade for 

 quite a long distance, none of the party suflfered in any way, the 

 insects being all too busy clinging to their perches for their own 

 safety. ,None of us felt quite happy, however, under the circumstances. 



The Phrynus, though ordinarily seldom seen, is at times found in 

 quite large numbers in dry and dark disused or unfrequented situations, 

 whether of wood, stone, or earth, and even in the towns, and especially 

 about old cellars and buildings, abandoned mine-shafts and tunnels, or 

 in caves or rocky hollows. Their peculiar aspect, derived from their 

 astonishingly modified appendages, is no doubt responsible for their 

 Very bad reputation among the coast people and settlers generally, by 

 whom they are regarded as being even more dangerous than the 

 poisonous snakes, as they are commonly said to "fly at" you. The 

 pair of limbs modified as long tactile organs, and carried horizontally 

 extended, allows them to alight safely from long distances, and this 

 probably explains their reputed habit. Certainly the spines of the 

 long, anterior, prehensile appendages look forbidding enough, but they 

 could only be of any real service to the creature in helping it to seize and 

 secure the small objects on which it would prey. The poison-glands of 

 the gnathites are comparatively small, and from the similarity of the 

 poison in all these organi.sms could certainly not produce effects even 

 corresponding to those of its larger congeners. 



Scorpions and centipedes are very frequently found about the thatch 

 of the houses up country, and in the Indian settlements, especially in 

 the more open sheds, and in those that have been unoccupied for some 

 time. Projecting pegs, or nails, high up on the posts, on which clothes 

 may be hung, are favourite perches for scorpions, especially at night ; 

 and I have occasionally been stung by them on the fingers while taking 

 off a garment from such pegs. Luckily such specimens have always 

 been rather small ones ; and beyond the sharp pain at the time before 

 the application of ammonia, and a slight swelling of the glands of the 

 shoulder, there was little real discomfort. Cases are not uncommon, 

 however, where the stings of probably If^rge specimens have resulted in 

 serious illness, with high fever, greatly swollen glands, and much 



