Re. A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO. 
CHAPTER XIII. 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
ENromMo.ocy oF THE District—LEPIpopTrERA—THEIR EASY CAPTURE 
—ButtTerrLty Barr—List or SPECIES MOST COMMON—BEETLES— 
Locusts—EPHEMERIDZ—T'He Mason Wasp—Ants—THE JIGGER 
—I'Lies — SrprpErs — Moutuusca — Crustacea — IcHTHYOLOGY — 
BATRACHIANS — REprrTriLEs — CrocoDILEs — JHE SPUR-WINGED 
FPLOVER—l'orTOISES—LIZARDS—SNAKES. . 
ONE of the prettiest sights as you voyage up the Congo, 
and coast some sandy bank or smooth low-lying shore, is 
to see the moist ground covered with myriads of brightly- 
coloured butterflies, clustered like beautiful blossoms in 
some parterre, round the more humid depressions in the 
soul, settling there apparently to suck up the moisture and 
quench what appears to be a perpetual thirst. So absorbed 
are they in this occupation that they seem well-nigh 
unconscious of possible danger, and you may walk quietly 
up to them, and, selecting your victims, seize them by the 
thorax, pinch and pop them into your collecting box ; by 
the time this is done, the other butterflies, momentarily 
disturbed by your incursion, will have settled again, and 
you can pursue your work of slaughter. Or, if you like a 
more wholesale mode of capture, you can drop your net 
down on a cluster, and secure about twenty butterflies at 
once. This, however, has its inconveniences. Not only is 
it difficult to prevent the agitated insects from damaging 
themselves as they all struggle together, but you may also 
include in your netful a number of nasty little wasps or 
big droning bees, that will spitefully sting you through the — 
gauze of the net when you are trying to carefully secure 
the best of the butterflies. Of course, many of the Lepi- 
