218 [Ai<i-ii. 



TROPICAL COLLECTING. 



BY GEO. C. CHAMPION. 



{Concluded from p. 205). 



Ascending from the " tierra caliente " of Chiriqui, to 3000 — 4000 

 ft., the elevation at which the coffee plantations are usually made, the 

 forest is of rather a different character, though very luxuriant ; the 

 growth is denser, it is, as might be expected, less tropical in appear- 

 ance, the trees are not so lofty, there are fewer palms and of different 

 species, fewer Musacese, fewer Arums, but more ferns, especially of 

 the arborescent kinds, and Lycopodiums ; as as we go higher (5000 — 

 6000 ft.) the tree-trunks and branches are covered with moss — all 

 reeking with moisture during the long rainy season ; except for a 

 short time in the morning, ver}^ little is to be seen of the sun, the 

 higher mountain forest-clad slopes are constantly enveloped in mist ; 

 the clouds descending soon after mid-day to remain till nearly dark, 

 and shrouding everything as in a fog ; the tree-tops are, perhaps, just 

 visible, above all is impenetrable mist ; at this time the forest is very 

 gloomy and dark, and not a sound of life will be heard except the 

 dismal howling of the monkeys at intervals, even the large blood- 

 thirsty TahanidcB leave you in peace, the butterflies vanish, and the 

 collector will no longer find anything to repay him for his work. 



The mountain-sides are everywhere scored or cut up by enormous 

 deep "barrancas" or ravines, sometimes 1000 ft. or more in depth, 

 the sides of which are often so steep as to make the ascent or descent 

 a matter of very considerable difficulty, at times an impossibility. At 

 8000 ft. (I did not succeed in ascending higher), some interesting 

 butterflies occur, similar to those found in Costa Eica at a similar ele- 

 vation — species of Clothilda, Euterpe, Eiipti/chia, Oxceoscliistus, &c., 

 and a few beetles — minute species of Hispidce and Cehrionidce, some 

 Lnmpyridcd not before met with, Malthiniis, various Fhytophaga, &c., 

 chiefly obtained by brushing bamboo ; the uudei'growth at this eleva- 

 tion consists almost entirely of bamboo and small palms, tracks of the 

 tapir were numerous here, and help the collector a good deal in getting 

 about, otherwise he must cut his way everywhere. At 4000 — 5000 ft. 

 a good many butterflies, &c., not to be seen in the low country, will 

 be met with — species of Euterpe, Mesosemia, Heterochron, Papilio, 

 Timetes, Pieris, Aiicen, Leptalis, Apatura, &c. ; a gigantic Noctua 

 {Erehus, sp.), the largest specimens of which are fully ten inches in 

 expanse, will be seen occasionally settled high up on the trunks of 

 the largest trees in the forest, looking like nothing so much as a 



