Griccs: Species oF HELICONIA 645 
field study, and the descriptions of more than one species would 
have them with indifferently erect or drooping panicles. But it 
seems very probable that such inferences are the result of identi- 
fying two species as one. The ecological relations of the plants 
in the two cases are quite different. The bracts in the erect inflo- 
resence are always full of water, into which numerous insects fall 
and decay, and in species like H. Boringuena the floral parts them- 
selves are always more or less rotten, The fruit of such species 
ripens under water ; and both flowers and fruit have the full bene- 
fit of the sun. But in the pendent inflorescence the flowers are 
shaded from the sun and rain by the roof-like bract above them, 
and are subjected to very different conditions. It is a question 
whether the erect-flowering species are insectivorous or not. If 
they are not, they would have only to utilize a food supply 
already present to become so. That this habit is no mere acciden- 
tal peculiarity of the individual plant will be realized at once by 
any one who sees in the field how constantly the species adhere to 
it. With very rare exceptions the erect-flowering species always 
bear the inflorescence erect, no matter what may be the position 
of the stem, and vice versa. It is as constant as any character 
they possess. 
Another character which has not received the attention it de- 
Serves is color in the inflorescence. The neglect of this is due 
largely to the method of dealing with dried specimens from which 
it is absent. My own observation in the field goes to show that 
it is one of the least variable characteristics of the genus. The 
Shape of the parts, their relative size, and the presence of hair 
and glaucescence — these are variable and must be used carefully. 
But in the study of several thousand individuals of the more 
abundant species no variation in color was detected. The colors 
of the inflorescence are nearly always bright, but never delicate 
°r such as are usually subject to variations. 
Heticonra CHoconiANna S. Watson. 
Whole plant glabrous, slender, as much as 2 m. tall: leaves 
reaching a length of 33 cm. and a breadth of 7 cm., oblong, acute 
or short-acuminate at the apex, cordate and almost clasping the 
Stem, green on both sides : peduncle sometimes as much as 7 cm. 
