NATURAL HISTORY. 
87 
offered for sale to strangers are almost sure to be of species well known in 
European museums. He should strive to obtain as much variety as pos¬ 
sible, and not fill his boxes and jars with quantities of specimens of one 
or a few species. But as some of the rarest and most interesting species 
have great resemblance to others which may be more common, he should 
avail himself of every opportunity of comparing the objects side by 
side. In most countries, as already remarked, the truly indigenous, and 
often the rarest, species are to be found only in the mountains at con¬ 
siderable elevations and in the primitive forests, the products of cultivated 
districts being nearly all widely distributed and well known. In botany 
a traveller, if obliged to restrict his collecting, might confine himself to 
those plants which are remarkable for their economical uses; always 
taking care to identify the flowers of the tree or shrub whose root, bark, 
leaves, wood, &c., are used by the natives, and preserving a few specimens 
of them. But if he has the good fortune to ascend any high mountain 
not previously explored, he should make as complete a collection of the 
flowering plants as possible, at the higher elevations. The same may be 
said of insects found on mountains, where they occur in great diversity— 
on the shady and cold sides rather than on the sunny slopes—under 
stones, and about the roots of herbage, especially near springs, on shrubs 
and low trees, and so forth; for upon a knowledge of the plants and 
insects of mountain ranges depend many curious questions regarding the 
geographical distribution of forms over the earth. In reptiles, the smaller 
Batrachians (frogs, salamanders, &c.) should not be neglected, especially 
the extremely numerous family of tree-frogs; lizards may be caught gene¬ 
rally with the insect sweeping-net; the arboreal, or rock haunting species 
seen out of reach, and the swift-running forms that inhabit sandy plains 
may be brought down with a charge of dust-shot. Snakes should be taken 
without injuring the head, which is the most important part of the body: 
a cleft stick may be used in securing them by the neck, or they may be 
shot, and on reaching camp they may be dropped into the jars of spirits. 
As large a collection as possible should be made of the smaller fishes and 
tortoises of lakes and rivers. 
Mammals and Birds .—An ordinary geographical expedition will hardly 
have the means at its disposal for bringing home many specimens of the 
larger animals. But many species in regions visited only by adventurous 
explorers are still desiderata in the large museums of Europe; and 
