The Naturalist in Nicaragua: A Narrative of a Residence at the Gold Mines of Chontales; Journeys in the Savannahs and Forests. with Observations on animals and plants in reference to the theory of evolution of living forms de Belt, Thomas - 1874

London: John Murray, 1874. First edition. Illustrated, small folding map ay the rear, small thick octavo, pp xvi, 403, slightly weak internally, a contemporary owner's signature and date on the preface page, with a Victorian W.H. Smith Lending Library label on the front endpaper and their tiny embossed stamp opposite, original blue blind-stamped cloth, rubbed and a bit marked, the lower cover more scuffed, head and tail of the spine worn. [Dedicated to Henry Walter Bates, and much admired by Charles Darwin. The author was an English geologist and naturalist, born at Newcastle-on-Tyne in 1832, and educated in that city. He is remembered for his work on the geology of gold bearing minerals, glacial geology, and for his description of the mutualistic relationship between certain bullthorn Acacia species and their Pseudomyrmex ants. As a youth Belt became actively interested in natural history through the Tyneside Naturalists Field Club. In 1852 he went to Australia and for about eight years worked at the gold-diggings, where he acquired a practical knowledge of ore deposits. In 1860 he proceeded to Nova Scotia to take charge of some gold-mines, and there met with a serious injury, which led to his return to England. In 1868 he was appointed to take charge of some mines in Nicaragua, where he passed four active and adventurous years the results being given in this book, a widely regarded work. In this volume the author expressed his views on the former presence of glaciers in that country. He also first described the mutualistic relationship of certain Acacias and the ant we now know as Pseudomyrmex spinicola. These are a species of red myrmecophyte-inhabiting neotropical ants which are found only in Nicaragua and Costa Rica. They live in the thorns of a tropical tree, Acacia collinsii, feeding on nectaries along with the protein and lipid-rich pods produced by the plant for the ants and now known as Belsian bodies (or Beltian bodies) in honor of Belt.]. First Edition. Cloth. Good.