8o 



THE TOCANTINS 



scens), which grow in crowded masses around the swampy- 

 banks of lagoons. Its voice is a harsh, grating hiss ; it 

 makes the noise when alarmed, all the individuals sibi- 

 lating as they fly heavily away from tree to tree, when 

 disturbed by passing canoes. It is polygamous, like other 

 members of the same order. It is never, however, by 

 any chance, seen on the ground, and is nowhere domesti- 

 cated. The flesh has an unpleasant odour of musk 

 combined with wet hides — a smell called by the Brazilians 

 catinga ; it is, therefore, uneatable. If it be as unpalat- 

 able to carnivorous animals as it is to man, the immunity 

 from persecution which it would thereby enjoy would 

 account for its existing in such great numbers throughout 

 the country. 



A great number of the insects which we found here 

 were different from those of Para. Species characteristic 

 of the one locality were replaced by allied species in the 

 other, a fact which would tend to the conclusion that the 

 Tocantins serves, to some extent, as a barrier to migration. 

 This was especially the case with the Papilios of the group 

 which wear a livery of black, green, and red. P. Echelus 

 of this group, which is so common at Para, was here ab- 

 sent, and its place supplied by the closely related P. 

 iEneides. Both have the same habits, and seem to fill 

 similar spheres in the natural economy of the two dis- 

 tricts. Another handsome butterfly taken here was a 

 member of the Erycinidae family, the Alesa Prema, which 

 is of a dazzling emerald-green colour chequered with black. 

 I caught here a young Iguana ; Iguanas, however, are 

 extremely common everywhere throughout the country. 

 They are especially numerous in the neighbourhood of 

 villages, where they climb about fruit-trees overrun with 

 creepers. The eggs, which are oblong, and about an 

 inch and a half in length, are laid in hollow trees, and 

 are very pleasant eating taken raw and mixed with farinha. 

 The colour of the skin in the Iguana changes like that of 

 the chameleon ; in fact, it is called chameleon by the 

 Portuguese. It grows to a length of five feet, and be- 

 comes enormously fat. This lizard is interesting to 

 English readers on account of its relationship to the 

 colossal fossil reptile of the Wealden, the Iguanodon. 

 The Iguana is one of the stupidest animals I ever met 

 with. The one I caught dropped helplessly from a tree 

 just ahead of me ; it turned round for a moment to have 



