52 
A NATURALIST ON THE PROWL. 
and twigs, for where there is sweetness there will be ants 
Then there is a mixed multitude of insects of the baser 
sort, aphides and hoppers and the like, and to keep them 
all within limits, there are spiders and lizards also, dark 
grey geckos, which find just such lodging as they like 
about the rugged trunk and the old roots that over- 
lie it, blending with it and with each other in grand 
confusion. 
But if you wish to form a just idea of the place which 
the Banian tree fills in the world, you must visit it when 
every twig is fringed with scarlet figs. If this should be, 
as it generally is, in the cold season, when food is scarce, 
