The Naturalist on the River Amazons: A Record of Adventures, Habits of Animals, Sketches of Brazilian and Indian Life, and Aspects of Nature Under the Equator, During Eleven Years of TravelJ. Fitzgerald, 1880 - 774 pages |
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Page 625
... species jagged or toothed along their edges . Then there was the bread - fruit - tree - an importation , it is true ; but remarkable for its large , glossy , dark- green , strongly digitated foliage , and its in- teresting history ...
... species jagged or toothed along their edges . Then there was the bread - fruit - tree - an importation , it is true ; but remarkable for its large , glossy , dark- green , strongly digitated foliage , and its in- teresting history ...
Page 626
... species of Cassicus ( C. icterono- tus ) . It belongs to the same family of birds as our starling , magpie , and rook , and has a rich yellow and black plumage , remarkably compact and velvety in texture . The shape of its head and its ...
... species of Cassicus ( C. icterono- tus ) . It belongs to the same family of birds as our starling , magpie , and rook , and has a rich yellow and black plumage , remarkably compact and velvety in texture . The shape of its head and its ...
Page 627
... species , but the sting is not So severe as in many of the smaller kinds . There was nothing peculiar or attractive in the habits of this giant among the ants . Another far more interesting species was the Sauba ( Ecodoma cephalotes ) ...
... species , but the sting is not So severe as in many of the smaller kinds . There was nothing peculiar or attractive in the habits of this giant among the ants . Another far more interesting species was the Sauba ( Ecodoma cephalotes ) ...
Page 628
... species closely allied to ours , has excavated a tunnel under the bed of the river Parahyba , at a place where it is as broad as the Thames at London Bridge . At the Magoary rice - mills , near Pará , these ants once pierced the ...
... species closely allied to ours , has excavated a tunnel under the bed of the river Parahyba , at a place where it is as broad as the Thames at London Bridge . At the Magoary rice - mills , near Pará , these ants once pierced the ...
Page 629
... species . The successful début of the armed class in the Termites , or white ants ; winged males and females depends likewise for they never fight . The species has no on the workers . It is amusing to see the ac- sting , and does not ...
... species . The successful début of the armed class in the Termites , or white ants ; winged males and females depends likewise for they never fight . The species has no on the workers . It is amusing to see the ac- sting , and does not ...
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Common terms and phrases
afterward alligators anchor animal ants appearance ashore banks beautiful birds boat branches Brazilian broad cacao Cafuzo called Cametá campos canoe Cardozo Caripí channel clothed coast color creek cuberta distance dry season Ecitons eggs farinha feet fish flocks foliage Fonte Boa forest fruit ground habits hammocks head height inches Indians inhabitants insects interior islands Japurá kind land larvæ leaves length live lower main river mameluco mandioca miles monkeys montaria morning mouth natives nearly neighborhood neighboring night o'clock Obydos paddle palms Pará Pará river passed plants Portuguese ramble Rio Negro road rocinha sails sand sandy Santarem seemed seen Senhor shade shape shore side Solimoens species stream Tabatinga tail Tapajos tion Tocantins Toucans town trees tribe trunks Tupí turtles Upper Amazons vegetation vessel village voyage walk wild wind wings woods yards young
Popular passages
Page 759 - ... liquid. They soon penetrate every part of the confused heap, and then, gathering together again in marching order, onward they move. All soft-bodied and inactive insects fall an easy prey to them, and, like other Ecitons, they tear their victims in pieces for facility of carriage. A phalanx of this species, when passing over a tract of smooth ground, occupies a space of from four to six square yards ; on examining the ants closely they are seen to move, not...
Page 629 - ... This frontal eye is totally wanting in the other workers, and is not known in any other kind of ant. The apparition of these strange creatures from the cavernous depths of the mine reminded me, when I first observed them, of the Cyclopes of Homeric fable. They were not very pugnacious, as I feared they would be, and I had no difficulty in securing a few with my fingers. I never saw them under any other circumstances than those here related, and what their special functions may be I cannot divine.
Page 627 - Each one places itself on the surface of a leaf, and cuts with its sharp scissors-like jaws a nearly semicircular incision on the upper side ; it then takes the edge between its jaws, and by a sharp jerk detaches the piece. Sometimes they let the leaf drop to the ground, where a little heap accumulates, until carried off by another relay of workers ; but generally each marches off with the piece it has operated...
Page 634 - With the day and night always of equal length, the atmospheric disturbances of each day neutralizing themselves before each succeeding morn ; with the sun in its course proceeding mid-way across the sky and the daily temperature the same within two or three degrees throughout the year — how grand in its perfect equilibrium and simplicity is the march of Nature under the equator ! Our evenings were generally fully employed preserving our collections, and making notes.
Page 673 - It was lively only for two or three, and then its loud note could be heard from one end of the village to the other. When it died he gave me the specimen, the only one I was able to procure. It is a member of the family Locustidas, a group intermediate between the Crickets (Achetidas) and the Grasshoppers (Acridiidae).
Page 655 - ... part of the web was broken. and two small birds, finches, were entangled in the pieces; they were about the size of the English siskin, and I judged the two to be male and female. One of them was quite dead; the other lay under the body of the spider not quite dead, and was smeared with the filthy liquor or saliva exuded by the monster. I drove away the spider and took the birds, but the second one soon died.
Page 758 - I ascertained only after longcontinued observation, is as follows. The main column, from four to six deep, moves forward in a given direction, clearing the ground of all animal matter dead or alive, and throwing off here and there, a thinner column to forage for a short time on the flanks of the main army, and re-enter it again after their task is accomplished. If some very rich place be encountered anywhere near the line of march, for example, a mass of rotten wood abounding in insect larvae, a...
Page 756 - ... 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...
Page 655 - I was attracted by a movement of the monster on a treetrunk ; it was close beneath a deep crevice in the tree, across which was stretched a dense white web. The lower part of the web was broken, and two small birds, finches, were entangled in the...
Page 631 - The tree trunks were only seen partially here and there, nearly the whole frontage from ground to summit being covered with a diversified drapery of creeping plants, all of the most vivid shades of green ; scarcely a flower to be seen, except in some places a solitary scarlet passionflower set in the green mantle like a star. The low ground on the borders between the forest wall and the road, was encumbered...