A Collecting Trip to Colombia 9 



pursuit was impossible. Even the usually rather stolid Argias showed this 

 wariness. One day at Agua Dulce, at an elevation of about 762 metres, we 

 took seven species of this genus. No Gynacanthas were seen about Cincin- 

 nati though they were sought in several likely places. 



Below the coffee mill we found a peculiar small catfish which climbed 

 waterfalls by clinging to the vertical rocks by means of spines on tlie under 

 side of the head, and by making occasional flips upward of an inch or less 

 at a time. At rest it looked like a whisp of algae or a bit of rag attached 

 to the rock face and washing about in the falling water. 



We left Cincinnati January 2 with our collection totalling 80 species 

 and 2,916 specimens. That evening we looked without success tor Gyna- 

 canthas near the pools and in the woods up the railroad above Santa Marta. 

 The Manzanares was carrying more water than when we saw it in De- 

 cember. January 3 was spent along the Tamacal, now scarcely occupying its 

 flat bed of fine sand, the stream being only six to ten feet wide. Our total 

 collection to date was 81 species and 3,196 specimens. 



On January 4 we went to Rio Frio. We selected this place because 

 of the fine stream, forty to sixty feet wide, — the Rio Frio, — the close prox- 

 imity of the hills, and the accommodations kindly offered us by the United 

 Fruit Company through the Rio Frio manager, Mr. Pepin. About this 

 place there were extensive banana fields. Where not irrigated the soil was 

 dry and sandy and the vegetation stunted. A stream six to ten feet wide 

 with a good flow of water in the hills was found to disappear when it came 

 out on the flat sandy country. Many other streams were diverted for ir- 

 rigation, and the flow of the Rio Frio was largely used for the same pur- 

 pose. There were a number of small marshes in the neighborhood. Weather 

 conditions were good during our stay at Rio Frio. It was usually cloudy 

 in the early morning and again about four p. m. In the afternoon we fre- 

 quently encountered flocks of Macrothemis which numbered thousands of 

 individuals. They were mostly of one species, the females greatly predom- 

 inating, the males very rare, and mature adults of either sex being still rarer 

 or wanting. The only interest of the individuals of these flocks was the 

 catching and eating of small insects, and their life at this time was a rather 

 definite transitional stage between the larva and the sexually mature insect. 



When we left Rio Frio on the morning of January 9 our collection 

 totalled 94 species and 4,135 specimens. Enroute to Fundacion we collected 

 an hour or two about some small marshes and along irrigating ditches at 

 Aracataca. Up to this time the only Neoneura taken had been Neoncnra 

 esthera, but at Fundacion we found Neoneura hiUnearis associated with 

 Neoneura esthera, numbers of both species ovipositing in dead grassy debris 

 caught in fences and similar obstructions in irrigating ditches. Neoneura 

 hiUnearis was so much paler than Brazilian and Guianan specimens, with the 

 areas of green and yellow so much larger, that it was mistaken for a new 

 species. Later along the Rio Cesar, the same species was seen ovipositing 

 at the water's edge in the solid mud banks. Both species, Neoneura esthera 

 and Neoneura hiUnearis, were found together as far inland as Cristalina, 

 near Puerto Berrio. 



