252 THE AM ERICA X MUSEUM JOURNAL 



formino- crevices in all directions, some of them more than three feet deep 

 and so broad that I could thrust my arm into them. Much of the life of 

 the surface evidently had been destroyed by the water. I found many 

 hundreds of trap-door spiders' nests but all were deserted and ruined. 



The most striking and distinctive character of the fauna at San 

 Geronimo seems to be brilliancy of coloring-. Thus the black spider, 

 Lafrodcctus- 'mactafis, common all over tropical countries, has here l)road 

 coral-red stripes which give it an appearance more red than black. The 



K. (). Hovey, Photo., 1906. 



ON THE JALTEPEC RIVER, ISTHMUS OF TEHUANTEPEC. 



black scorpion is replaced by a yellow one, the black and brown tarantula 

 by a species with pink cephalo thorax and red-striped abdomen. Speci- 

 mens of arachnida were abundant, but the number of species was few, 

 so that three days proved time enough to get a representative collection. 



My next stop was made at Tonala, Chiapas. This town is in the 

 rainy belt which begins a few miles to the southeast of San Cieronimo 

 and extends along the Pacific coast into (luatemala. In the lowland, it 

 was hard to collect, owing to the great amount of water over the ground 

 from the swollen brooks. One trip only was made through the little 



