THE CHANGING MONTHS IN IMÈRINA: CLIMATE, VEGETATION, AND
LIVING CREATURES OF THE INTERIOR 103
Autumn: March and April—Rice Harvest—The Cardinal-Bird—The
Egret and the Crow—Harvest Thanksgiving Services—Rice,
the Malagasy Staff of Life—Queer “Relishes to Rice”—Fish
—Water-beetles—A Dangerous Adventure with One—Dragonflies—Useful
Sedges and Rushes—Mist Effects on Winter Mornings—Spiders’
Webs—The “Fosse-Crosser” Spider—Silk from it—Silk-worm Moths—And
Other Moths—The “King” Butterfly—Grasshoppers and Insect Life on
the Grass—The Dog-Locust—Gigantic Earthworms—Winter: May to
August—Winter the Dry Season