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Show 1896.] EXPEDITION ON THE LOWER AMAZON. 775 and Locusts. It was, however, noticed that as we proceeded further up the river the number of insects that visited us by night sensibly diminished. The reason for this I am at a loss to understand ; but the same observation was made by Mr. Bernard Piffard, a naturalist who passed up the river about the same time as ourselves on board one of the boats of the Red Cross Line. Hymenoptera.-As regards this Order m y best day's collecting was at Obydos, where on Feb. 2nd I was fortunate in finding a large bush in full flower and covered with specimens of a great variety of species. At each locality visited the most conspicuous and commonest of the large Hymenoptera were various species of Pepsis, while the common Wasp of the Lower Amazon and the Para River was found to be Polistes canadensis, Linn. This species abounds everywhere, and numbers of its stalked nests are to be found attached to the rafters in every open shed or similar building : they were particularly noticeable inside a little mortuary chapel in the cemetery at Itacoatiara. Here and there on the Parana de Buyassu, as well as at Gurupa and other places, a long, white, cylindriform object was observed hanging to the branch of a tree ; this was the nest of the Card-making Wasp (Chartergus chartarlus, Oliv.). Tbe natives are extremely fond of these nests as ornaments for their houses. Some of the Bees met with seemed particularly inquisitive creatures : thus in clearings in the forest Chrysantheda nltkla, Perty, a small species of a brilliant metallic green, hovers around one, or over any article one may have thrown upon the ground, as if inspired with the utmost curiosity ; while, when steaming about in the ship's launch at Buyassu, a large reddish-brown species of Epicharis hummed round us in sweeping curves, and by its actions led us to mistake it for a Horse-fly (Tabanus). Among the various species of Ants the well-known Satibas, or Leaf-carrying Ants (Atta spp.), were by far the most noticeable, and were abundant in the more open places everywhere. When collecting in a clearing one frequently came upon a narrow moving column of small green leaves, or rather segments of leaves, crossing one's path and meandering away in either direction as far as the eye could trace it among the herbage, the insects themselves often being entirely concealed by their burdens. Diptera were by no means so abundant as I bad hoped, and the majority of the species met with were not very striking. The comparative scarcity of species of this Order must have been due to the season of the year, as I failed to come across numbers of fine species taken by Bates at the very localities we visited. Unfortunately none of Bates's Diptera in the collection of the British Museum are labelled with tbe date of capture. I am happy to say that I secured a fair series of specimens, representing a number of species, of the much-abused but rarely-collected Mosquito (Culex). Although in the forest Mosquitoes always made their presence felt, the only place where I found them really troublesome was Macapd; here they literally swarmed round me in clouds, and collecting quickly became a source of pain and grief. |
