the lower branches, the vine embraces the trunk, covering it with elegant festoons and rich bunches of fruit in the style of the Italian vineyards. The leaf of the pepper plant is large, resembling that of the ivy, and of a bright green; the blossoms appear in June, soon after the commencement of the rains; they are small, of a greenish white, and are followed by the pungent berries, which hang in large bunches, resembling in shape those of grapes, but the fruit grows distinct on little stalks like currants. This valuable spice grows chiefly on the Malabar coast, in Sumatra, Borneo, Java, Singapore; its cultivation has also been introduced in Cayenne and the West Indies. The black and white sorts of pepper are both the produce of the same plant. The best white peppers are supposed to be the finest berries which have dropped from the tree, and, lying under it, become somewhat bleached by exposure to weather; the greater part of the white pepper used as a condiment is, however, the black merely steeped in water, and decorticated, by which means the pungency and real value of the spice are diminished; but having a fairer and more uniform appearance when thus prepared, it fetches a higher price.

Jamaica is the chief seat of the magnificent myrtle (Myrtus pimenta), which furnishes the Pimento-commonly called, by way of eminence, "Spice," or "Allspice" -of commerce. This beautiful tree grows to the height of about thirty feet, with a smooth, brown trunk, and shining green leaves resembling those of the bay. In July and August a profusion of white flowers, filling the air with their delicious olors, forms a very pleasing contrast to the dark foliage of its wide-spreading branches. It grows spontaneously in many parts of the island, particularly on the northern side, in high spots near the coast. When a new plantation is to be formed, no regular planting or sowing takes place, for, as Edwards observes, "the pimento tree is purely a child of nature, and seems to mock all the labors of man in his endeavors to extend or improve its growth; not one attempt in fifty to propagate the young plants, or to raise them from the seeds in parts of the country where it is not found growing spontaneously, having succeeded. For this reason, a piece of land is chosen, either in the neighborhood of a plantatation already formed, or in a part of the woodland where the pimento-myrtles are scattered in a native state. The land is then cleared of all wood but these trees, which are left standing, and the felled timber is allowed to remain, where it falls to decay, and perishes. In the course of a year, young pimento plants are found springing up on all parts of the land, produced, it is supposed, in consequence of the ripe berries having been scattered there by the birds, while the prostrate trees protect and shade the tender seedlings. At the end of two years the land is thoroughly cleared, and none but the most vigorous plants, which come to maturity in about seven years, are left standing." The berries are carefully picked while yet green, since, when suffered to ripen, they lose their pungency. One person on the tree gathers the small branches. and three others, usually women and children, find full employment in picking the berries from them. The produce is then exposed to the sun for about a week, when the berries lose their green hue and become of a reddish brown. When perfectly dry, they are in a fit state for exportation. In favorable seasons, which, however, seldom occur above once in five years, the pimento crop is enormous, a single tree having been known to yield one hundred weight of the dried spice. From its combining the flavor and properties of many of the oriental

aromatics, pimento has derived its popular name of allspice, and, from its being cheaper than black pepper, its consumption is very great.

Though but a lowly root, Ginger almost vies in commercial importance with the aromatic rind of the cinnamon-laurel, or the pungent fruit of the nutmeg-myrtle. The plant which produces this valuable condiment belongs to the tropical family of the Scitamineæ, or spice-lilies, which also reckons among its members the Cardomum and the Curcuma. Its jointed tubers creep and increase under ground, and from each of them springs up an annual stem about two feet and a half high, with narrow and lanceolate leaves. The flowering stalk rises directly from the root, ending in an oblong, scaly spike; from each of these scales a single white and blue flower is produced. Ginger is imported into this country, under the form of dried roots and as a preserve. We receive it both from the East and West Indies, but that from the latter is much superior in quality to the former.

ANIMALS OF THE TROPICAL WORLD.

CHAPTER VIII.

INSECTS.

Multitude of Tropical Insects-Beetles-Dragon Flies-Leaf Moths-The Leaf Butterfly-Fire Flies.-Insect Plagues: Mosquitoes-Chigoes, or Jiggers-The Filaria Medinensis— The Bête Rouge-Ticks-Land-Leeches-The Tsetsé Fly-The Tsalt-Salya Locusts— Cockroaches-Enemies of the Cockroach.-Useful Insects: The Silk-Worm-The Cochineal Insect-The Gum-Lac Insect-Edible and Ornamental Beetles.

AVING thus passed in rapid survey over the characteristic forms of the Vegetable World of the Tropics, we now proceed to the Animal Kingdom, commencing with Insects, and proceeding to Reptiles, Birds and Beasts.

On advancing from the temperate regions to the pole, we find that insect life gradually diminishes in the same ratio as vegetable life declines. The reverse takes place on advancing towards the equator; for, as the sun rises more and more to the zenith, we find the insects gradually increasing with the multiplicity of plants, and at length attaining the greatest variety of form, and the highest development of number, in those tropical lands where moisture combines with heat in covering the ground with a dense and everlasting vegetation. Thus while not a single species of beetle is found on Melville Island, Greenland boasts of 11; Lapland of 813; Sweden of 2,083. In the milder climate of England their number increases to 2,263; in France it rises to 4,200; and the hothouse temperature of Brazil, from Rio Janeiro to Bahia, fosters no less than 7,500 specific forms of beetle life. In Borneo Mr. Wallace collected 2,000 distinct species of beetles within the space of a single square mile; some of them of forms to the oddity of which no parallel can be found elsewhere. Thus, also, while the whole of Europe and Siberia hardly possess more than 250 butterflies, the explored parts of Brazil, which are very inferior in extent, have already furnished the naturalist with no less than 600 species, and no doubt contain many more.

In the countries which, from the never failing abundance of food, and constant warmth, are most favorable to the multiplication of insects, these creatures may naturally be expected to attain the greatest size. Thus the European rhinoceros beetle, though an inch and a quarter long, is far surpassed by the Megasominac of torrid America. The colossal Hercules beetle attains a length of five or even six inches, and is distinguished, like the other species of the genus, by the singular hornshaped processes rising from the head and thorax, which give it a very grotesque and even formidable appearance. Though but little is yet known of its economy, it most likely subsists upon putrescent wood, and evidently leads a tree life, like the other