TWINERS AND CLIMBERS. 1 8 J, 



but species of many, and the most diverse families- 

 the bulk of whose members are not climbers, seem to- 

 have been driven by circumstances to adopt this 

 habit. There is even a climbing genus of palms- 

 (Desmoncus), the species of which .are called in the 

 Tupi language, ' Jacitara.' These have slender 

 thickly-spined and flexuous stems, which twine 

 about the taller trees from one to another, and 

 grow to an incredible length. The leaves, which 

 have the ordinary pennate shape characteristic of the 

 family, are emitted from the stems at long inter- 

 vals, instead of being collected into a dense crown, 

 and have at their tips a number of long recurved 

 spines. These structures are excellent contrivances 

 to enable the trees to secure themselves by in climb- 

 ing, but they are a great nuisance to the traveller, for 

 they sometimes hang over the pathway, and catch 

 the hat or clothes, dragging off the one or tearing 

 the other as he passes. The number and variety of 

 climbing trees in the Amazon forests are interesting, 

 taken in connexion with the fact of the very 

 general tendency of the animals, also, to become 

 climbers." 1 



In a similar manner the Rev. Charles Kingsley 

 was impressed with these plants in the forests of the 

 West Indies. " Around your knees are probably 



1 "The Naturalist on the Amazons/' by H. W. Bates, p. 17. 



