383 



salamanders, our sand-martins, and our mar- 

 mosets. If the hibernal lethargy be observed at 

 once in animals with cold and those with hot 

 blood, we shall be less surprised to learn, that 

 these two classes furnish alike examples of a 

 summer sleep. In the same manner as the cro- 

 codiles of South America, the tenrecs # , or Ma- 

 dagascar hedge-hogs, in the midst of the torrid 

 zone, pass three months of the year in lethargy. 



On the 25th of March we traversed the 

 smoothest part of the steppes of Caraccas, the 

 Mesa de Pavones. It is entirely destitude of the 

 corypha and murichi palm-trees. As far as the 

 eye can reach not a single object fifteen inches 

 high can be discovered. The air was clear, and 

 the sky of a very deep blue ; but the horizon 

 reflected a livid and yellowish light, caused no 

 doubt by the quantity of sand suspended in the 

 atmosphere. We met some large herds, and 

 with them flocks of birds of a black colour, with 

 an olive reflection. They are of the genus cro- 

 tophaga-f-, and follow the cattle. We had often 

 seen them perched on the backs of cows, seek- 

 ing for gadflies and other insects. Like many 

 birds of these desert places, they fear so little 

 the approach of man, that children often take 



* Centenes, Illiger. (Erinaceus ecaudatus, Lin.) 



+ The Spanish colonists call the crotophaga ani, zamurito, 

 (little carrion vulture, vultur aura rninuta), or garapatero, 

 t( eater of garapatas" insects of the family of acarides. 



