glass-- one of these clear wings is especially beautiful, namely,
the Hetaira Esmeralda. It has one spot only of opaque colouring
on its wings, which is of a violet and rose hue; this is the only
part visible when the insect is flying low over dead leaves in
the gloomy shades where alone it is found, and it then looks like
a wandering petal of a flower.

Bees and wasps are not especially numerous near Para, and I will
reserve an account of their habits for a future chapter. Many
species of Mygale, those monstrous hairy spiders, half a foot in
expanse, which attract the attention so much in museums, are
found in sandy places at Nazareth. The different kinds have the
most diversified habits. Some construct, amongst the tiles or
thatch of houses, dens of closely-woven web, which, in its
texture, very much resembles fine muslin; these are often seen
crawling over the walls of apartments. Others build similar nests
in trees, and are known to attack birds. One very robust fellow,
the Mygale Blondii, burrows into the earth, forming a broad,
slanting gallery, about two feet long, the sides of which he
lines beautifully with silk. He is nocturnal in his habits. Just
before sunset he may be seen keeping watch within the mouth of
his tunnel, disappearing suddenly when he hears a heavy foot-
tread near his hiding place. The number of spiders ornamented
with showy colours was somewhat remarkable. Some double
themselves up at the base of leaf-stalks, so as to resemble
flower-buds, and thus deceive the insects on which they prey. The
most extraordinary-looking spider was a species of Acrosoma,
which had two curved bronze-coloured spines, an inch and a half
in length, proceeding from the tip of its abdomen. It spins a
large web, the monstrous appendages being apparently no