ITINERARY. xlvU 



In some of the savannah copses, a few species of shells occurred, but 

 they were mostly old dead and broken specimens. They included such 

 forms as Bidimus oblongus, B.fraterculus, B. regina, Stenogyra ociona, 

 Leptinaria lamellata, etc. In some of the dried up swamps were 

 numbers of dried and broken apple-snails, of such species as Ampullaria 

 glauca, A. papyracea, and A. cornu-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 rocks 

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

 Melania {M. atra and M. drmmsuloata) with shells of much thicker 

 and harder texture, as they are more frequently in the waters 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 abeady 

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

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

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

 coast generally specimens are not difficult 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 the banks of the watercourses, among the 

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

 near steep rocky bluffs, there 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 two expeditions, were 

 new species, but mostly they were common and widely distributed 

 over the country. They 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 find blue 

 passion-flowers, pink and white and yellow Mandevillas, yellow milk- 

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

 lilac Diperyx, golden Poecilandras, fragrant white Eyrillas, large-flowered 

 fragrant Clusias, the large-leaved Archytcea multijlora with its large 

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

 and purple Melastomas, white Ruellias, yellow Jussiseas, red Diantheras, 

 blue spiny Hydroleas, the striking many-flowered white Toeoyena, a 

 peculiar blue Didymochlamys, a rubiaceous species (Sipamea) looking 

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

 yellow and blue bladderworts (Utricularia and Genlisea), blue and red 

 and yellow gentians, a flulfy and long-podded Asclepiad {D_itassa\ 

 small species of Pcepalanthus, white and yellow and red EpideindruTn — 

 the last of every variety of shade, — a fragrant yellow Cyrtopodium, the 

 quaint lady's-slipper (Phragmipedium), the handsome Cattleya Law- 

 rencecma, with its rich purple-red flowers, magenta Sobralias, besides 

 ' many others — several of them extending up the slopes of Eoraima. 

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

 district must add enormously to what is known of the flora. What we 

 know is the result merely of a few rapid journeys over tracks that are 

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

 only the results of a few fragmentary collections made on parts of one 



