trate the varied beauties of the tribe. They rise in stately groups from the fissures of the granite rocks at the cataracts of Maypure and Atures, on the Orinoco; their slender and polished stems attain to the height of sixty or seventy feet, surmounted with a canopy of enormous leaves, and yet so light are they, and airy, that they rustle to every passing breeze, and present in their playful quiver a striking contrast to the deep dense mass of foliage far beneath, and of which scarcely a leaf is seen to stir. This valuable species bear enormous clusters of purple and gold-coloured berries, which yield abundance of farinaceous food, and are equally pleasant and nutritious. Others there are, whose tall, unbranched, and slender stems, crowned with elegant and feathery foliage, give an impression of vegetable youth, while beside them some gnarled and gigantic tree may seem to indicate that long centuries must have passed over its sapless trunk. But such may not be the case; many years are needful to perfect some trees which yet retain the vigour and the beauty of their first existence, while others speedily decay. Even the stately Oak, and the stupendous Baobabs, of Senegal, though they convey an idea of great strength, combined with age, may begin to fail in even a less period than the Palm.

In the Oak and Ash, in the Chestnut and the Beech, and generally among forest trees one character pervades the different species. The broad umbrageous foliage of the Oak, and its widelyextended arms, its giant port, and club-shaped leaves, are discoverable in no other species of forest tree. The Ash, on the contrary, owes its light and

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graceful appearance to its compound leaves with their long and oval leaflets; the Horse-Chestnut, its dignified and pyramidical character to the arrangement of the boughs, which group around the parent stem, broad and spreading at the base, and gradually diminishing till they reach the top; the Beech, its noble bearing among forest trees to the smooth and beautiful trunk which throws out in all directions those massive and yet waving branches, which gently droop towards the earth, mantled in spring with leaves of the lightest green, and during autumn exhibiting the varied tints of yellow, brown and orpiment. In each of these an individuality of character exists; but such is not the case with the palm tribe. In the Piritu, the stem is slender, like a reed; in the Palma de Coveja, it is scaly in one species prickly, in another irregularly thick. In the Palma Real, of Cuba, it is formed like a spindle, small at the base and top and swelling in the middle, and often rising to the height of 180 feet, crowned either with widely-spreading and feathery, or fan-shaped leaves. And as the leaves of European plants present different kinds of green, and each peculiar to separate species, so in this respect also a remarkable dissimilarity subsists. Palms are not more unlike in their appearance than in the colour of their leaves; some are white on the under surface, like those of the white-beam hawthorn, which often present a pleasing contrast to the deep foliage of our forest trees; others are dark green, and shining like those of the favourite holly, of our lanes and commonsWith polished leaves, and berries red.

Others, again, are fan-shaped, and adorned with

concentric blue and yellow rings, like those in a peacock's tail. The flowers too, though various in shape, are generally of a dazzling white, or pale yellow, but the fruit is in one species round, in another oval, in a third oblong, in a fourth eggshaped and growing in brilliant gold and purplecoloured clusters.

The Poto or Kinkajou (Pottos caudivolvulus), resembles, in his physiognomy and natural disposition, the active and graceful Lemur. But his organs of mastication and of motion are widely different. His claws and canine teeth are like those of the carnivorous animals, but then his long prehensile tail bears no affinity to theirs. If some characteristic traits connect him with the bears and coati, his countenance and disposition are not the same. The proper station of his family seems to be iminediately after the Quadrumana, between which and the carnivorous tribes, he might establish a new connecting link. Links, indeed, there are, which seem to bind the visible creation into one. They resemble the threads that compose the tissue of an immense and ingenious piece of net-work. Nor does there exist a more curious subject of research than these connecting links between various orders, genera, and species. We have reason to believe that a gradual and unbroken gradation of living creatures ascends from the rock-adhering zoophyte to the higher species of mammalia, and a sufficient number are everywhere perceptible to convince us that a kind of circular chain unites the numerous branches of the great family of earth to

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gether. But man is not included. Formed in the likeness of his Maker, and designed to be the temple of the Holy Spirit, he has dominion over all, and stands at an immeasurable height above every other species of organized existence.

The poto has been brought into Europe several times, and has been as frequently described. His disposition is said to be remarkably mild; he passes the day in sleep, lying on one side with his head reclining on his breast and covering himself with his arms. When aroused he generally complains of the interruption, and runs to shade his eyes from the full blaze of day in some obscure corner, but caresses soon bring him back; he begins to play, till the excitement is withdrawn, and then the love of sleep seems to overpower him. When evening draws on, he slowly awakes, rouses himself, steps forward a few paces with irresolute and measured steps, utters a bleating sound, and puts forth his long tongue. If milk be offered, he laps it like a dog, and partakes heartily of fruit or bread. Such are his habits when domesticated. In a wild state, he is said to climb the highest trees, and to descend by the aid of his hind legs after the manner of the coati. His tail is also very useful; it serves him instead of a hand in holding by the branches as he climbs from tree to tree, and he draws with it such objects towards him, as could not be otherwise obtained. The tongue of the poto is very long and slender: when he discovers, by the sense of smelling, that honey is within each, either in a cavern or a hollow tree, he immediately repairs thither, and, cautiously ascending the trunk or rock, darts forth

his tongue into the nest, and sweeps away such of the humming population as are within reach. I have never seen the poto, and cannot, therefore, conjecture in what way he is defended from their stings. We know that bees when irritated rush forth from their citadels, and furiously attack the aggressor, and that it is difficult, if not impossible, so instantaneously to extinguish life as to render the sting innocuous. The tongue, therefore, must be either covered with an impenetrable skin, or else defended by some glutinous exudation-the throat also, and the stomach, must have some peculiar defence for terrible instances are recorded of extreme suffering being occasioned, both to men and animals, by eating fruit in which a bee or wasp has been secreted. The body of the poto must be also well protected, or else assuredly he would never venture the second time to carry on such an unequal warfare. Perhaps his skin is thick, or the hair may be close and strong. The Honey-guide furnishes, among birds, a striking instance of evident design in giving an impenetrable coat of mail to a creature which has to seek its food among angry bees. The feathers, unlike those of the nightingale and goldfinch, the wren or robin, are short and hard, and lie close one upon the other; the skin is thick, and the fibres so pressed together, that it is difficult to penetrate them even with a pin. Thus guarded, the Honey-guide goes forth to seek his favourite food in hollow trees; the busy people, roused in the midst of their daily occupations, may rage and attempt to sting, but he continues to satisfy his hunger unmoved by the clamour that surrounds him.