BOOK REVIEWS. 



163 



ference, towered up and were lost amidst the crowns of the lower trees, 

 their lower branches in some cases being hidden from our view." 



Then he describes the poisonous tree, Sapium sp., whose milky sap 

 is said to cause incurable sores." 



Then there are fascinating descriptions of the habits of insects, as, 

 for instance, those of the sand wasps and mason bees. Even to-day- 

 it would be very difficult to discover a better introduction to these 

 interesting creatures than he gives us. 



One of them excavates its mine on a " sandbank recently laid bare 

 in the middle of the river. ' ' It has to travel half a mile in order to catch 

 the unfortunate fly with which it provisions its cell. Yet it returns 

 " without hesitation straight for the closed mouth of the mine. " This, 

 as he explains, must be due to "a mental process in each individual, 

 differing from the same in man only by its unerring uncertainty." 



Bates was, of course, most interested in birds, monkeys, alligators, 

 tortoises, and insects. His descriptions of the formidable ants which 

 seem to dominate the valley of the Amazons, and hold their own even 

 against mankind, are amongst the most valuable of existing observa- 

 tions. " The main column, from four to six deep, moves forward in a 

 given direction, clearing the ground of all animal matter, dead or alive, 

 and throwing off here and there a thinner column to forage. ... If 

 some very rich place be encountered anywhere near the line of march — 

 for example, a mass of rotten wood abounding in insect larv£e, a delay 

 takes place and a very strong force of ants is concentrated upon it. 

 The excited creatures search every cranny, and tear in pieces all the 

 large grubs they drag to light." 



The Indians are described exactly as he saw them, and his descrip- 

 tion of their dances, arrows poisoned with Urari (strychnine), and 

 characteristics sixty years ago are valuable anthropological documents. 



He describes also the different types of vegetation in the Amazons : 

 the Ygapos or inundation forest, with its trees whose trunks are " coated 

 with dried shme " and its " dense bushes of a hard, cutting grass," the 

 campos " carpeted with slender, hairy grasses, unfit for pasture, 

 growing to a uniform height of about a foot," and " islands of jungle " 

 or scattered trees, as well as the ordinary forest which prevails over 

 an enorm.ous area of the valley. 



It will be seen that this classical work is one which should be in- 

 cluded in every naturahst's library, and it is fortunate that it should now 

 be published at a price which brings it within the reach of everyone. 



Those who are specially interested in the author will find a short 

 account of his hfe in the Fortnightly Review, December 1892, by Grant 

 Allen ; there is also the memoir by Edward Glodd in the 1893 edition 

 of this work. 



"A Book about Sweet Peas." By Walter P. Wright. 8vo., 

 168 pp. (Headley, London, 1909.) 2.<?. net. 



Mr. Wright claims in his preface that he has made an earnest 

 attempt in his book to show how much of interest, charm, and pleasure 



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