114 
Nature Shedding her "Wealth. 
charms help to cheer us when the Present and the Future cast aside their 
deceptive veil and Life in its darker aspects looms threateningly ahead 
of us. 
392. But yet it was not the eye alone that enjoyed it. The moist 
atmosphere tilled with the loveliest perfume from thousands of flower- 
ing orchids transported me to that stage of Imagination which disclos- 
es the innermost recesses of one’s heart, and makes the full enjoyment 
of the Present dispel all thoughts of the Past and Future. So bounti- 
fully did Nature shed her wealth on me. I had never yet seen such an 
abundance of orchids in bloom. Oncidium Lanceonuni Lindl., O. Baueri 
Lind!., 0. lunation Lindl., and the small O. iridifolium Humb. Kth. 
Z ygopetal am rostra, uni Hook. Epidendrum umbellatum Lindl., Myan - 
thus barbatus Lindl., J/. deltoides Lindl., Bifrenaria longicornis Lindl., 
Maxdllaria cristata Lindl., Coryanthes macrantha , C. maculatu Hook., 
Monachanthus discolor Lindl., Brassavola angustata Lindl., Peristeria 
pendula Hook., Brassia macrostachya and B. Lanceana Lindl., were 
associated on one single tree, for the height of the trees made the recep- 
tion of such masses of bloom possible: the Ionopsis teres had taken up 
its station on the Caladium arborescens Vent. Near by, the edges of the 
water glided in between a regular trellis of giant C r in uny the height of 
which gradually rose with the incoming flood when the floating flowers 
alone indicated the existence of their stalks. It is hardly necessary to 
mention that from now onwards I daily renewed my excursions by 
corial, and thus continually added to my Herbarium, for on every re- 
peated trip my anxious eyes discovered something new or something 
previously overlooked. There was only one thing to mar my pleasure, 
at least momentarily, and that was the innumerable ants which partic- 
ularly chose the Epidendrum and Coryanthes roots for their home: 
the slightest shake of the branches brought thousands into our corial 
so that, to free ourselves from the painful bites of the frightened insects, 
we often had to leave behind the loveliest specimens of flower. 
393. Almost every tree from the mangrove up 'to the huge Legum* 
inosae lodges its own mp re or less dangerous species of ant, one of which 
is also distinguishable from the other by the construction of its nest. 
That on the mangrove is at the same time the surest measure for the 
height of the flood, because it is only found at a level seldom reached 
by this condition of the tide. Even as different as the nest is also the 
odour peculiar to each species which varies from that of our large forest 
ants to the most awful of stenches. As soon as the flood reaches an un- 
usual height and comes within reach of the nests, the worried occupants 
escape in a body to the tree top where they lump themselves together in 
huge clusters whence they will drop on the slightest disturbance. Woe 
to us when one of these clumps fell into the corial. Bishop Hatto could 
not have run from the pursuing mice as nimbly as we did from the 
countless hordes that suddenly attacked us in battle-array. 
394. It was on one of these short excursions that I happened to dis- 
cover a new Coryanthes over which I deemed myself to be rightly proud. 
I could hardly trust my eyes on seeing in front of me the glorious gigan- 
tic yellow brown-spotted blossom of six inches diameter and upon closer 
examination recognising it as a member of that genus. The only sped- 
