PDF - Wallace Online

IllANIMAL LIFE IN THE TROPICAL FORESTSDifficulties of the Subject General Aspect of the Animal Life of EquatorialForests Diurnal Lepidoptera or Butterflies Peculiar Habits of TropicalButterflies Ants, Wasps, and Bees Ants Special Relationsbetween Ants and Vegetation Wasps and Bees Orthoptera andother Insects Beetles Wingless Insects General Observations onTropical Insects Birds Parrots : Pigeons Picarise Cuckoos Trogons,Barbets, Toucans, and Hornbills Passeres Reptiles andAmphibia Lizards Snakes Frogs and Toads Mammalia : :Monkeys Bats Summary of the Aspects of Animal Life in theTropics.THE attempt to give some account of the general aspects ofanimal life in the equatorial zone presents far greater difficultiesthan in the case of plants. On the one hand, animalsrarely play any important part in scenery, and their entireabsence may pass quite unnoticed while the ; abundance,variety, and character of the vegetation are among thoseessential features that attract every eye. On the other hand,so many of the more important and characteristic types ofanimal life are restricted to one only out of the three greatdivisions of equatorial land, that they can hardly be claimedas characteristically tropical ;while the more extensive zoologicalgroups which have a wide range in the tropics and donot equally abound in the temperate zones, are few in number,and often include such a diversity of forms, structures, andhabits as to render any typical characterisation of themimpossible. We must then, in the first place, suppose thatour traveller is on the look-out for all signs of animal life ;and that, possessing a general acquaintance as an out-doorobserver with the animals of our own country, he carefully