166 
BLUEFIELDS. 
beneath stones in the vicinity of Bluefields. It ap- 
pears inert when exposed, and perhaps hopes to 
escape observation by remaining motionless ; on being 
touched, however, it shuffles away rather nimbly. 
In the damp woods on the summit of Bluefields 
Ridge I find under stones the genera Polydesmus and 
Julus. The former are difflcult to preserve, from 
their excessive fragility when dead. By the time I 
arrive at home, I commonly find the specimens, col- 
lected an hour or two before, completely disintegrated, 
the box presenting only a heap of fragments ; and 
those segments that yet remain entire, separating a.t 
the slightest touch. They are inert animals, of slow 
motion. The living Julus when touched, gives out 
at the part, a brown fiuid oozing from beneath the 
segments. This is of a rank pungent odour, and 
stains the fingers of a deep yellow hue. 
SINGING-BIRDS, AND SWEET FLOWERS. 
‘‘ In tropical countries, where brilliant and varied 
colours have been granted to the birds and flowers, 
song has been denied to the one, and fragrance to the 
other.” This is one of those flippant generalisations 
which people are fond of repeating, originally made 
without investigation, and perpetuated without in- 
quiry. In Jamaica it is certainly very far from truth; 
and I suspect would be found as groundless every- 
where else. The groves and fields of this sunny isle 
ring with the melody of birds, to a degree fully equal, 
in my judgment, to that of Europe. In the lone 
forests of the mountain-heights the Glass-eye Merle 
