A Collecting Trip to Colomhia ii 



another gomphine was taken. Going back to the main trail and crossing 

 the arroyo, we found another trail branching to the left. This trail passed 

 through the wood and by some small clearings and plantings, including a 

 small banana field on the left, to end at a shelter hut in a yuca and sugar 

 cane field two or three miles from the main trail. Resting on twig tips in 

 the wood along this trail a third gomphine was taken. This gomphine was 

 usually found in moist locations where Heliconias of gigantic size grew in 

 clumps and where the forest had a dense growth of dwarf bamboo one to two 

 feet high. They also occurred, but in fewer numbers, wherever a fallen tree 

 top furnished some dead twigs for perches. They were found in both sun 

 and shade but preferred mixed or patchy sunlight. 



East of town was an irrigating ditch. The trail on the south side of 

 the cemetery led to it through brushy pastures. Just above the juncture of 

 the ditch and the trail were some low woods densely carpeted with selaginel- 

 las and similar low plants. In this low vegetation and in adjacent brush, 

 consisting of spiny palms, hooked bamboos, Heliconias and other mostly 

 spiny plants, we found large numbers of Metaleptobasis. Most of these we 

 caught by hand as we wriggled through the brush. Any other mode of 

 progress was impossible, and an insect net was useless under such condi- 

 tions. 



The days at Fundacion were generally bright. One afternoon was 

 cloudy ; and it rained most of one night and till about ten a. m. the next day, 

 remaining cloudy till noon. The great flocks of Macrothemis with which 

 we had grown familiar about Santa Marta, Bolivar and Rio Frio, were 

 absent here. 



We left Fundacion the morning of January 15, the collection 10 date 

 numbering 107 species and 4,945 specimens. We took a night ferry from 

 Cienaga to Barranquilla which we reached about six-thirty a. m. January 16. 

 We left Barranquilla on the river steamer Manizales after sundown Jan- 

 uary 18. The boat spent the early part of the night ramming first one bank 

 and then the. other, and tearing souvenirs from sundry boats and barges 

 tied up in the canal leading from the city to the Magdalena River. We ar- 

 rived at Calamar about sundown January 19. The night of January 20 

 we tied up at Yati where a lot of cattle were to be loaded on board next day. 

 We took advantage of this delay and spent the forenoon of January 21 col- 

 lecting up river to Magangue where our boat arrived about two p. m. The 

 country about Yati and Magangue was fairly typical of a hundred miles or 

 more of the country adjacent to the lowei' Magdalena. Great pastures suc- 

 ceeded one another, with frequent lagoons a short distance back from the 

 river and paralleling it. Heavy forests were rare. The hills are far back 

 from the river, frequently none being seen in a day's travel. Walking from 

 Yati to Magangue the road followed closely along the river with extensive 

 lagoons on the other hand, and passed over two small tributaries. We saw 

 Brachymesia and Miathyria literally by thousands. 



El Banco, 86 leagues up the river from Barranquilla, had been chosen 

 as our first stop. We arrived there about five p. m., January 22, and made 

 ourselves at home at the Central Hotel. Cattle raising was the principal 



