452 



logons species are so common, we were never 

 wonnded. Besides, the puncture is no way dan- 

 gerous, and in general causes so little pain, that 

 it often does not awaken the person, till after the 

 bat has withdrawn. 



April the 4th. This was the last day we 

 passed on the Rio Apure. The vegetation of it's 

 banks becomes more and more uniform. We 

 had begun for some days past, particularly since 

 we had left the mission of Arichuna, to suffer 

 cruelly from the stings of insects, that covered 

 our faces and hands. They were not moschet- 

 toes, which have the appearance of little flies, or 

 of the genus simulium, but zancudoes, which 

 are real gnats, very different from our culex 

 pipiens # . These tipulariee appear only after sun- 

 set. Their proboscis is so long, that, when they 

 fix on the lower surface of a hammock, they 

 pierce the hammock and the thickest garments 

 with their sting. 



We had intended to pass the night at the 

 Vuelta del Palmito ; but the number of jaguars at 

 this part of the Apure is so great, that our Indians 

 found two hidden behind the trunk of a locust- 

 tree, at the moment when they were going to 

 sling our hammocks. We were advised to re- 



*. Mr. Latreille has discovered, that the moschettoes of 

 South Carolina are of the genus siuiuJium ,(atractocera 

 meigen). 



