THE NATURALIST ON THE AMAZONS. 
3S9 
so were we able to watch the process step by step. It might be objected that the 
difference between our two species is but slight, and that by classing them as 
varieties nothing further would be proved by them. But the differences between 
them are such as obtain between allied species generally. Large genera are com¬ 
posed in great part of such species, and it is interesting to show the great and 
beautiful diversity within a large genus as brought about by the working of laws 
within our comprehension.” 
But to return to tlie Zoological wonders of the Tipper Amazon, 
birds, insects, and butterflies are all spoken of by Mr. Bates in his 
chapter on the natural features of the district, and it is evident that 
none of these classes of beings escaped the observation of his watch¬ 
ful intelligence. The account of the foraging ants of the genus 
JEciton is certainly marvellous, and would, even of itself, be sufficient 
to stamp the recorder of their habits as a man of no ordinary mark. 
The last chapter of Mr. Bates’ work contains the account of his 
excursions beyond Ega. Eonteboa, Tunantins—a small semi-Indian 
settlement, 240 miles up the stream—and San Paulo de Olivenga, 
some miles higher up, were the principal places visited, and new 
acquisitions were gathered at each of these localities. In the fourth 
month of Mr. Bates’ residence at the last-named place, a severe 
attack of ague led to the abandonment of the plans he had formed 
of proceeding to the Peruvian towns of Pebas and Moyobamba, and 
“ so completing the examination of the Natural History of the Ama- 
“ zonian plains up to the foot of the Andes.” This attack, which 
seemed to be the culmination of a gradual deterioration of health, 
caused by eleven years’ hard work under the tropics, induced him to 
return to Ega, and finally to Para, where he embarked, on the 2nd of 
June, 1859, for England. Naturally enough, Mr. Bates tells us he 
was at first a little dismayed at leaving the Equator, “ where the 
“ well-balanced forces of Nature maintain a land-surface and a 
“ climate typical of mind, and order and beauty,” to sail towards the 
“ crepuscular skies” of the cold north. But he consoles us by adding 
the remark that “three years’ renewed experience of England” 
have convinced him “ how incomparably superior is civilized life to 
“ the spiritual sterility of half-savage existence, even if it were passed 
“ in the Garden of Eden.” 
We cannot conclude this imperfect notice of one of the most en¬ 
tertaining and instructive books of travel it has ever been our good 
fortune to peruse, without calling special attention to the illustrative 
woodcuts, which have not only been well-selected, but admirably 
executed by the artists employed upon them. The frontispiece, in 
which our author is represented as beset by a noisy troop of the 
Curl-crested Aracari Toucans, attracted by the cries of their wounded 
companioD, is one of the best executed scenes of the kind that even 
Mr. Wolf’s prolific pencil has ever produced. 
2 H 2 
