[165] From the Greek ἑπι, upon, and φὑτον, a plant.
[166] Order, Leguminosæ.
[167] Rev. W. Ellis, “Three Visits to Madagascar.”
[168] Order, Apocynaceæ.
[169] The genus Vibris is the type of a tribe of animalcules commonly known as microscopic eels, remarkable for their extraordinary minuteness. One species is parasitic upon wheat, and when full grown attains a quarter of an inch in length; but the young are so microscopically small that 30,000 might be contained in a single grain of wheat.
[170] H. W. Bates, “The Naturalist on the Amazons,” pp. 37-39.
[171] Dr. Buckland. Bridgewater Treatise, “On Geology and Palæontology,” &c.
[172] Mansfield Parkyns, “Life in Abyssinia.” See some interesting details in Major Harris’s “Sport in the Western Highlands of Ethiopia.”
[173] H. W. Bates, “The Naturalist on the Amazons,” p. 175.
[174] According to Humboldt, this is an exaggeration: the Howlers assemble in large numbers, morning and evening, and join in a chorus of discords, but do not obey a president or leader.