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and plunged into the brook to free himself. Two days 

 afterwards I found the body of the sloth on the ground : 

 the animal having dropped on the relaxation of the muscles 

 a few hours after death. In one of our voyages, Mr. 

 Wallace and I saw a sloth (B. infuscatus) swimming across 

 a river, at a place where it was probably 300 yards broad. 

 I believe it is not generally known that this animal takes 

 to the water. Our men caught the beast, cooked, and ate 

 him. 



In returning from these trips we were sometimes be- 

 nighted on the campos. We did not care for this on 

 moonlit nights, when there was no danger of losing 

 the path. The great heat felt in the middle hours of . 

 the day is much mitigated by four o'clock in the after- 

 noon ; a few birds then make their appearance ; small 

 flocks of ground doves run about the stony hillocks ; 

 parrots pass over and sometimes settle in the ilhas ; 

 pretty little finches of several species, especially one 

 kind, streaked with olive-brown and yellow, and some- 

 what resembling our yellow-hammer, but I believe not 

 belonging to the same genus, hop about the grass, en- 

 livening the place with a few musical notes. The Caras- 

 hue (Mimus) also then resumes its mellow, blackbird-like 

 song ; and two or three species of humming-bird, none 

 of which however are peculiar to the district, flit about 

 from tree to tree. On the other hand, the little blue and 

 yellow-striped lizards, which abound amongst the herbage 

 during the scorching heats of mid-day, retreat towards this 

 hour to their hiding-places ; together with the day-flying 

 insects and the numerous campo butterflies. Some of 

 these latter resemble greatly our English species found 

 in heathy places, namely, a fritillary, Argynnis (Euptoieta) 

 Hegesia, and two smaller kinds, which are deceptively 

 like the little Nemeobius Lucina. After sunset the air 

 becomes delightfully cool and fragrant with fruits and 

 flowers. The nocturnal animals then come forth. A 

 monstrous hairy spider, five inches in expanse (My gale 

 Blondii), of a brown colour with yellowish lines along its 

 stout legs — which is very common here, inhabiting broad 

 tubular galleries smoothly lined with silken web — may be 

 then caught on the watch at the mouth of its barrow. 

 It is only seen at night, and I think does not wander far 

 from its den ; the gallery is about two inches in diameter, 

 and runs in a slanting direction, about two feet from the 



