Tetragonops. Dr. Sclater has lately given a figure of this bird in the Ibis, vol. iii., p. 182.

confiding disposition under domestication, in which qualities my pet seemed to be almost equal to parrots. I allowed Tocdno to go free about the house, contrary to my usual practice with pet animals; he never, however, mounted my working-table after a smart correction which he received the first time he did so. He used to sleep on the top of a box in a corner of the room, in the usual position of these birds, namely, with the long tail laid right over on the back, and the beak thrust underneath the wing. He ate of everything that we eat, beef, turtle, fish, farinha, fruit, and was a constant attendant at our table—a cloth spread on a mat. His appetite was most ravenous, and his powers of digestion quite wonderful. He got to know the meal hours to a nicety, and we found it very difficult, after the first week or two, to keep him away from the dining-room, where he had become very impudent and troublesome. We tried to shut him out by inclosing him in the back-yard, which was separated by a high fence from the street on which our front door opened, but he used to climb the fence and

Curl-crested Toucan.

hop round by a long circuit to the dining-room, making his appearance with the greatest punctuality as the meal was placed on the table. He acquired the habit afterwards of rambling about the street near our house, and one day he was stolen, so we gave him up for lost. But two days afterwards he stepped through the open doorway at dinner hour, with his old gait, and sly, magpie-like expression, having escaped from the house where he had been guarded by the person who had stolen him, and which was situated at the further end of the village.

The Curl-crested Toucan (Pteroglossus Beauharnatsit).—Of the four smaller toucans, or arassaris, found near Ega, the Pteroglossus flavirostris is perhaps the most beautiful in colours, its breast being adorned with broad belts of rich crimson and black; but the most curious species by far is the Curl-crested, or Beauharnais Toucan. The feathers on the head of this singular bird are transformed into thin horny plates, of a lustrous black colour, curled up at the ends, and resembling shavings of steel or ebony wood, the curly crest being arranged on the crown in the form of a wig. Mr. Wallace and I first met with this species on ascending the Amazons, at the mouth of the

Solimoens; from that point it continues as a rather common bird on the terra firma, at least on the south side of the river, as far as Fonte Boa, but I did not hear of its being found further to the west. It appears in large flocks in the forests near Ega in May and June, when it has completed its moult. I did not find these bands congregated at fruit trees, but always wandering through the forest, hopping from branch to branch amongst the lower trees, and partly concealed amongst the foliage. None of the arassaris to my knowledge make a yelping noise like that uttered by the larger toucans (Ramphastos); the notes of the curl-crested species are very singular, resembling the croaking of frogs. I had an amusing adventure one day with these birds. I had shot one from a rather high tree in a dark glen in the forest, and leaving my gun leaning against a tree-trunk in the pathway, went into the thicket where the bird had fallen, to secure my booty. It was only wounded, and on my attempting to seize it, itset up a loud scream. In an instant, as if by magic, the shady nook seemed alive with these birds, although there were certainly none visible when I entered the thicket. They descended towards me, hopping from bough to bough, some of them swinging on the loops and cables of woody lianas, and all croaking and fluttering their wings like so many furies. Had I had a long stick in my hand, I could have knocked several of them over. After killing the wounded one I rushed out to fetch my gun; but the screaming of their companion having ceased, they remounted the trees, and before I could reload every one of them had disappeared.

Jnsects—Upwards of 7,000 species of insects were found in the neighbourhood of Ega. I must confine myself in this place to a few remarks on the order Lepidoptera, and on the ants, several kinds of which, found chiefly on the Upper Amazons, exhibit the most extraordinary instincts.

I found about 550 distinct species of butterflies at Ega. Those who know a little of Entomology will be able to form some idea of the riches of the place in this department, when I mention that eighteen species of true papilio (the swallow tail genus) were found within ten minutes’ walk of my house. No fact could speak more plainly for the surpassing exuberance of the vegetation, the varied nature of the land, the perennial warmth and humidity of the climate. But no description can convey an adequate notion of the beauty and diversity in form and colour of this class of insects in the neighbourhood of Ega. I paid especial attention to them, having found that this tribe was better adapted than almost any other group of animals or plants, to furnish facts in illustration of the modifications which all species undergo in nature under changed local conditions. This accidental superiority is owing partly to the simplicity and distinctness of the specific characters of the insects, and partly to the facility with which very copious series of specimens can be collected and placed side by side for comparison. The distinctness of the specific characters is due probably to the fact that all the superficial signs of change in the organisation are exaggerated, and made unusually plain by affecting the framework, shape, and colour of the wings, which, as many anatomists believe, are magnified extensions of the skin around the breathing orifices of the

thorax of the insects. These expansions are clothed with minute

MOBBED BY CURL-CRESTED TOUCANS.

feathers or scales, coloured in regular patterns, which vary in accordance with the slightest change in the conditions to which the species are

exposed. It may be said, therefore, that on these expanded membranes nature writes, ason a tablet, the story of the modifications of species, so truly do ail changes of the organisation register themselves thereon. Moreover, the same colour-patterns of the wings generally show, with great regularity, the degrees of blood-relationship of the species. As the laws of nature must be the same for all beings, the i conclusions furnished by this group of insects must be applicable to the whole organic world; therefore the study of butterflies—creatures selected as the types of airiness and frivolity—-instead of being despised, will some day be valued as one of the most important branches of Biological science.

I have mentioned, in a former chapter, the general sultry condition of the atmosphere on the Upper Amazons, where the sea-breezes which blow from Para to the mouth of the Rio Negro (1000 miles up stream) are unknown. This simple difference of meteorological conditions would hardly be thought to determine what genera of butterflies should inhabit each region, yet it does so in a very decisive manner. The Upper Amazons, from Ega upwards, and the eastern slopes of the Andes whence so large a number of the most richly-coloured species of this tribe have been received in Europe, owe the most ornamental part of their insect population to the absence of strong and regular winds. Nineteen of the most handsome genera of Ega, containing altogether about 100 species, are either entirely absent or very sparingly represented on the Lower Amazons within reach of the trade winds. The range of these nineteen genera is affected by a curiously complicated set of Suspended circumstances. In all the species of which they are com- ¢°coon of posed, the males are more than roo to one more numerous ssp than the females, and being very richly coloured, whilst the females are of dull hues, they spend their lives in sporting about in the sunlight, imbibing the moisture which constitutes their food, from the mud on the shores of streams, their spouses remaining hid in the shades of the forest. ‘The very existence of these species depends on the facilities which their males have for indulgence in the pleasures of this sunshiny life. ‘The greatest obstacle to this is the prevalence of strong winds, which not: only dries rapidly all moisture in open places, but prevents the richly-attired dandies from flying daily to their feeding-places. I noticed this particularly whilst residing at Santarem, where the moist margins of water, localities which on the Upper Amazons swarm with these insects, were nearly destitute of them; and at Villa Nova (where 23

a small number exists) I have watched them buffeting with the strong winds at the commencement of the dry season, and as the dryness increased, disappearing from the locality. On ascending the Tapajos to the calm and sultry banks of the Cupari, a great number of these insects reappeared, most of them being the same as those found on the Upper Amazons, thus showing clearly that their existence in the district depended on the absence of winds.

Before proceeding to describe the ants, a few remarks may be made on the singular cases and cocoons woven by the caterpillars of certain moths found at Ega. The first that may be mentioned is one of the most beautiful examples of insect workmanship I ever saw It is a cocoon, about the size of a sparrow’s egg, woven by a caterpillar in broad meshes of either buff or rose-coloured silk, and is frequently seen in the narrow alleys of the forest, suspended from the extreme tip of an outstanding leaf by a strong silken thread five or six inches in length. It forms a very conspicuous object, hanging thus in mid-air. The glossy threads with which it is knitted are stout, and the structure is therefore not liable to be torn by the beaks of insectivorous birds, whilst its pendulous position makes it doubly secure against their attacks, the apparatus giving way when they peck at it. There isa small orifice at each end of the egg-shaped bag, to admit of the escape of the moth when it changes from the little chrysalis which sleeps tranquilly in its airy cage. The moth is of a dull slaty colour, and belongs to the Lithosiide group of the silk-worm family (Bombycidz) When the caterpillar begins its work, it lets itself down from the tip of the leaf which it has chosen, by spinning a thread of silk, the thickness of which it slowly increases as it descends. Having given the proper length to the cord, it proceeds to weave its elegant bag, placing itself in the centre, and spinning rings of silk at regular intervals, connecting them at the same time by means of cross threads; so that the whole, when finished, forms a loose web, with quadranguiar meshes of nearly equal size throughout. The task occupies about four days: when finished, the enclosed caterpillar becomes sluggish, its skin shrivels and cracks, and there then remains a motionless chrysalis of narrow shape, leaning against the sides of its silken cage.

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