Bates, who found 7000 species of insects in the vicinity of only one of his collecting places on the Amazon (Ega), of which 550 species were of butterflies.
On the old clearings of another village Mr Bates himself, although he did not see a gorilla, saw the fresh tracks of these great apes and the torn stems and discarded fruit rinds of the "mejoms," as well as the broken stalks of the latter, which had been used for beds.
In the first case Mr Bates states that the tracks and beds indicated the presence of three or four gorillas, some of which were small.
Mr Bates's account, as being based on actual inspection of the beds, is probably the more trustworthy.
Most gorillas killed by natives are believed by Mr Bates to have been encountered suddenly in the daytime on the ground or in low trees in the outlying clearings.
