F eb. 1848. VEGETATION OF SOANE RIVEE. 41
bed of the river, and in pools were several aquatic
plants, Zannichellia, Chara, a pretty little Vallisneria,
and Potamogeton. The Brabminee goose was common
here, and we usually saw in the morning immense
flocks of wild geese overhead, migrating northward.
From Tura our little army again crossed the Soane,
the scarped cliffs of the Kymore approaching close to
the river on the west side» The bed was very sandy,
and about one mile and a half across. The stream was
very narrow, but deep and rapid, obstructed with beds
of coarse agate, jasper, cornelian and chalcedony
pebbles. A clumsy boat took us across to the village
of Soanepore, a wretched collection of hovels. The
crops were thin and poor, and I saw no palms or good
trees» Squirrels however abounded, and were busy
laying up their stores; descending from the trees they
scoured across a road to a field of tares, mounted the
hedge, took an observation, foraged and returned up the
trees with their booty, quickly descended, and repeating
the operation of reconnoitring and plundering.
Near this the sandy banks of the Soane were full of
martins’ nests, each containing a pair of eggs. The
deserted ones were literally crammed full of long-
legged spiders (Opilio), which could be raked out with
a stick, when they came pouring down the cliff like
corn from a sack, in quantities quite inconceivable. I
did not observe the martin feed on them.
The entomology here resembled that of Europe,
more than I had expected in a tropical country, where
predaceous beetles, at least Carabidece and Staphy-
linidecB, are generally considered rare. The latter