PDF - Wallace Online

272 TROPICAL NATUREin books of travel of the silence and gloom of the Brazilianforests. They are realities, and the impression deepens on alonger acquaintance. The few sounds of birds are of thatpensive and mysterious character which intensifies the feelingof solitude rather than imparts a sense of life and cheerfulness.Sometimes in the midst of the stillness a sudden yell or screamMorning and evening the howling monkeys make awill startle one ;this comes from some defenceless fruit-eatinganimal which ispounced upon by a tiger-cat or a boa-constrictor.most fearful and harrowing noise, under which it is difficultto keep up one's buoyancy of spirit.The feeling of inhospitablewildness which the forest is calculated to inspire isincreased tenfold under this fearful uproar. Often, even inthe stillmid-day hours, a sudden crash will be heard resoundingafar through the wilderness, as some great bough or entiretree falls to the ground." With a few verbal alterations theseremarks will apply equally to the primeval forests of theMalay Archipelago; and it is probable that those of WestAfrica offer no important differences in this respect. Thereis, nevertheless, one form of life which is very rarely absentin the more luxuriant parts of the tropics, and which is moreoften so abundant as to form a decided feature in the scene.It is therefore the group which best characterises the equatorialzone, and should form the starting-point for our review.This groupis that of theDiurnal Lepidoptera or ButterfliesWherever in the equatorial zone a considerable extent ofthe primeval forest remains, the observer can hardly fail to bestruck by the abundance and the conspicuous beauty of thebutterflies. Not only are they abundant in individuals, buttheir large size, their elegant forms, their rich and variedcolours, and the number of distinct species almost everywhereto be met with, are equally remarkable. In many localitiesnear the northern or southern tropics they are perhaps equallyabundant, but these spots are more or less exceptional, whereaswithin the equatorial zone, and with the limitations abovestated, butterflies form one of the most constant and mostconspicuous displays of animal life. They abound most inold and tolerably open roads and pathways through the forest,