THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA. 87 



black tarantula, that will be well worth saving, or 

 pull down the leaves of a large plant, and likely 

 enough a scorpion will come to light. The sting of 

 this animal is very painful, and the bite of the taran- 

 tula is said to be fatal to life, but probably not as 

 much so as the red species of Mexico. 



Arriving at our quarters, we sit down in the 

 veranda, and, with the disappearance of daylight, 

 watch the fire-flies and lantern-bugs as they ap- 

 pear. The last are numerous only at times, and 

 differ from the common fire-fly in being much larger, 

 and giving out a constant phosphoric light from two 

 points on their heads, and so exceedingly brilliant 

 that four or five of them, under a glass, will produce 

 light sufficient to read by. Many other nocturnal 

 insects will be constantly flitting about, which, with 

 sand-flies and fleas, will soon convince us that it is 

 time to seek more perfect repose. But before at- 

 tempting this it is always best to make a physical 

 examination of not only the chest, but the whole 

 body and extremities ; and more than likely a pair 

 of delicate forceps will be called into use, in order 

 to pick off the garapattas, a kind of wood-tick that 

 has transferred itself from plants to us ; or, if you 

 have been in the country for a few weeks, per- 

 haps the toes will be found festered on the ends, or 

 these white pimples will appear in other parts, and 

 on examination a little nest of eggs, scarcely per- 

 ceptible to the naked eye, will be discovered. These 

 are contained in a little sack, which it is desirable 

 to remove entire, for if an egg is left behind, it will 



