134 
BLUEFIELDS PaDGE. 
the trees are tall, slender, and somewhat open in 
growth, but the edge of the woods is formidable with 
cutting Sedges, and spinous Solanece, relieved by 
beautiful tufts of Cannce. Hereabouts Orchidece are 
very numerous ; almost every tree, from the size of 
one’s arm and upwards, being studded with masses of 
pseudo-bulbs of various species, enwrapping the 
trunks with their matted roots, and throwing out 
their fleshy leaves and spikes of fantastic blossom. 
Epidendrum ciliare, Maxillaria Barringtonice, Bras^ 
sia caudata, and other epiphyte kinds, grow here in 
great luxuriance. Farther on, the road is bordered 
by shrubby Gesneracecs, of which the curious Rhy- 
tidophyllum tomentosum, with its woolly spindle- 
shaped leaves, and branches of pale green flowers, 
and another species called Glass-eye berry, from its 
forming the principal food of the Thrush of that 
name, are pre-eminently abundant. Here and there 
the immense leaves of the wild plantain (HeUconia)^ 
of the most delicate green hue, wave out from the 
more ignoble bush ; and, looking in, we see a clump 
of these magnificent plants, and catch sight of their 
massive branches of blossom, enveloped in great boat- 
like bracts of richest scarlet. Looking over the 
forest from an eminence, the eye is attracted by the 
elegant Mountain-pride {Spathelia simplex) rising 
here and there above the mass ; a beautiful tree, 
whose straight slender stem, terminated by a crown 
an opportunity of seeing other specimens, and of finding that this was 
an error. The eggs are pure ivory-white, unspotted. The spots that 
deceived him, were probably stains produced by the earth in which 
they had lain. 
