SAND-BANK 



203 



the warp whilst the shuttle was passed by the hand 

 slowly across the six feet breadth of web ; others spinning 

 cotton, and others again scraping, pressing, and roasting 

 mandioca. The family had cleared and cultivated a 

 large piece of ground ; the soil was of extraordinary 

 richness, the perpendicular banks of the river, near the 

 house, revealing a depth of many feet of crumbling 

 vegetable mould. There was a large plantation of to- 

 bacco, besides the usual patches of Indian-corn, sugar- 

 cane, and mandioca ; and a grove of cotton, cacao, coffee 

 and fruit-trees surrounded the house. We passed two 

 nights at anchor in shoaly water off the beach. The 

 weather was most beautiful ; scores of Dolphins rolled 

 and snorted about the canoe all night. I saw here, for 

 the first time, the flesh-coloured species (Delphinus pallidus 

 of Gervais ?), which rolled always in pairs, both individuals 

 being of the same colour. In the daytime the margin of 

 the beach abounded with a small tiger-beetle (Cicindela 

 hebraea of Klug), which flew up like a swarm of house- 

 flies before our steps as we walked along. It is not easily 

 detected, for its colour is assimilated to that of the moist 

 sand over which it runs. I have a pleasant recollection 

 of this sand-bank, from having here observed, for the first 

 time, in ascending the river, one of the handsomest of 

 the many handsome butterflies which are found exclu- 

 sively in the interior parts of the South American con- 

 tinent, namely the Papilio Columbus. It is of a cream 

 white colour bordered with black, and has a patch of 

 crimson near the commencement of its long slender tails. 

 In the forest, amongst a host of other beautiful and 

 curious insects, I found another species of the same 

 genus, which was new to me, namely, the Papilio Ly- 

 sander, remarkable for the contrasted colours of its 

 livery — crimson and blue-green spots on a black ground. 

 This conspicuous insect may be cited as affording another 

 illustration of the way in which species so very commonly 

 become modified according to the different localities they 

 inhabit. P. Lysander is found throughout the interior 

 of the Amazons country, from Villa Nova to Peru, and 

 also in Dutch and British Guiana. In the Delta region 

 of the Amazons it is replaced by a form which has been 

 treated as a distinct species, namely, the P. Parsodes of 

 Gray. In French Guiana, however, numerous varieties 

 intermediate between the two are found, so that we are 



