obliged to triturate its food--grass, and herbaceous
plants--for a long time, in consequence of the contracted size of the
oesophagus, which will hardly admit a goose-quill, although the animal
is sometimes so large that it weighs more than two hundred pounds. Its
destiny seems to be to feed jaguars, for they live principally on the
creatures.

The chinchilla, another rodent, is very common in the fields and
esteros. There is a large heron, called in Guarani the _tuyuaju_--that
is, one which walks in the mud--nearly as tall as a man, with a bill
more than a foot in length. The puma ranges throughout the country, as
he does much further south; while the jaguar also appears amid the
forests and plains.

GREGARIOUS SPIDERS.

Among the insects, Masterman describes a gregarious spider which, when
full-grown, has a black body half an inch in length--with a row of
bright red spots on the side of the abdomen--four eyes, remarkably
strong mandibles, and stout hairless legs an inch in length. They
construct in concert huge webs, generally between two trees, ten or
twelve feet from the ground. In a garden, among trees forty feet apart,
these spiders had extended two long cables, as thick as pack-thread, to
form the margin of each web, the lower being only four feet from the
ground; and between them was a light, loose network perfectly divided
into webs, each presenting about two square feet of surface. Each of
these sub-webs was occupied by a spider from sunset to a little before
sunrise. Six nets contained two thousand of the creatures. They often
change their location; and a double stream was always passing along the
cables, apparently strengthening them as they came and went.

Sometimes three or four would be lying in wait within a few inches of
each other, the one crawling over or under the other's body without
hesitation. Soon after sunrise they left their webs, and, retreating to
the shade, formed two or three large masses as big as a hat under the
thick foliage of a jessamine-tree. There they remained motionless till
sunset, when the black lump crumbled to pieces. The process was a
curious sight to witness. Then, in a leisurely way, the spiders
scattered themselves to their aerial fishing. The air swarmed with
mosquitoes, which were caught in great numbers. Larger flies, and
especially moths, were at once pounced upon and devoured; a dozen often
feeding amicably on the body of the same insect, consuming no