Jones : In the Tropics, 



131 



numbers lazily flapping along the lane, and occasionally having a 

 dance with one another. Three or four of them circling round and 

 round, and glistening in the rays of the golden sunshine that falls in 

 patches through the shade, form a picture of great loveliness, and one 

 which will remain for years in our memories and help to enliven many 

 a dull and dreary hour in this dark and cheerless climate of ours. 

 Later on in the season, near the tangled mass of " taquara," or native 

 bamboo, if we come again on a bright summer day we shall be 

 dazzled by that still more lovely species M. Mga, the whole upper 

 surface of whose wings is of such a brilliant metallic blue that each 

 motion flashes out blue light, and the insect seems almost too beautiful 

 to belong to this every-day world of ours. And he knows his beauty, 

 and is very careful of it ; for so afraid is he of its getting damaged 

 that he only flies during bright sunshine, and if a cloud passes over 

 the sun he seems to fear the rain that might come, and immediately 

 settles under some leafy shade till the sunshine comes again, and he 

 can start once more on his airy gambols. I use the masculine pronoun 

 purposely, for it is only the male that is so gorgeously adorned. The 

 female is a very sombre creature in comparison with her mate. 



The trees at each side of the shady lane are many of them laden 

 with epiphytal plants. Orchids, arums, ferns of graceful form, delicate 

 cactuses, and many different kinds of Bromeliacece grow in profusion, 

 and make each branch a garden in itself. These air plants have a 

 special charm to an eye that has been reared in a temperate climate, 

 where it is accustomed to see only plants that grow in the ground ; and 

 a great part of the beauty of a tropical forest is derived from theui. 

 The Bromelias are especially interesting to the entomologist, as each 

 one forms a little reservoir of water in which larvse of insects are 

 found that exist in no other situation. The water stored up between 

 the leaves of these plants soon becomes half putrid with decaying 

 leaves and forest dust that accumulate in it, and it is anything but 

 pleasant to turn over one of these cisterns on to oneself when climbing 

 the trees to search for the botanical and entomological treasures they 

 are laden with. Some of the plants grow to a large size, and contain 

 several pints of water — enough to make a m^an feel ver}^ uncomfortable 

 if it is suddenly discharged down the back of his neck ! 



But if we begin to botanise as well as to entomologise, we shaU 

 never get back to the rancho ; and a darkening of the western sky and 

 a distant growl warn us that it is quite time to think of getting under 

 cover, so we will walk on a little faster and try to reach the rancho 

 by a different road from the one we came by, that leads nearly all the 



