lo Alkxander G. Rut)i\ i:x 



daguaca. Two weeks were spent here and very thorough work was done. 

 Birds were not abundant, however, and the ground was broken and the 

 forest difficult to penetrate. The venomous snake known as *'Fer-de-lance'' 

 was entirely too common to be agreeable and several narrow escapes spoiled 

 the pleasure of collecting. 



After returning from Las ^'egas, camp was established at Minca for 

 two weeks, and the slopes between 1,500 and 2,500 feet were thoroughly 

 worked, but the heavy rains interfered with collecting. 



From July 6, to .\ugust 3, work was done at Cincinnati, on San Lorenzo 

 and near JMamatoco, during which time many new forms were added to the 

 list and many loose ends of the problems of local distribution were caught up. 



On August 6, a trip was made to Fundacion in company with Dr. A. 

 G. Ruthven and Mr. F. M. Gaige, of the University of Michigan, and Dr. 

 A. S. Pearse, of the University of Wisconsin. Two weeks were spent here 

 with splendid results. The region proved to be a most interesting and fertile 

 field for all members of the party, and many forms new to the general 

 region were taken. 



After the return from Fundacion some time was spent looking for 

 particular forms in the vicinity of Mamatoco, Bonda, and Gaira, after 

 which a trip was made on September 26, to Cienega Grande. The party 

 embarked from Pueblo Viejo (near Cienega) in a big "Bongo" or dug-out 

 canoe, with a smaller canoe in tow for shooting purposes. The first stop 

 was made at Playa Caiman, near the northwestern corner of the Cienega. 

 where camp was made on a narrow strip of sand beach separating the 

 Cienega from the sea. All water was brought from near Pueblo Viejo, 

 where it had been carried in canoes from the mouth of the Aracataca River. 

 Life here was a constant torture by day and by night because of the hordes 

 of mosquitoes and sand-flies, which not even a solid muslin canopy would 

 keep out. Our only relief was when there was a brisk breeze from the 

 sea, but it was not the season for the sea breeze, and it came but seldom. 

 Needless to say, all possible haste was made to escape from such an unde- 

 sirable locality, and after five days we broke camp and fled to the open 

 Cienega in our big canoe, hoping to get at least one good night's sleep. We 

 did sleep, but so soundly that it w^as not until morning that we discovered 

 that we had been raided during the night by vampire bats, and the whole 

 party was covered with blood-stains from the many bites of these bats. It 

 may seem unreasonable to the uninitiated that we could have been thus 

 bitten and not be disturbed in our sleep, but the fact is that there is no pain 

 produced at the time of the bite, nor indeed for some hours after^vard. I 

 had ample proof of this while collecting vampires in an old tunnel in 

 Venezuela. I caught the bats in an insect net and then seized them care- 

 fully by the nape of the neck and thrust them into cyanide bottles. Their 

 skin is very loose around the neck and several times they succeeded in 

 wriggling about and nipping my fingers. On such occasions I never knew 

 I had been bitten until I saw the blood flowing from the wound. 



After a bath and breakfast we put up our sail and headed for Troja^ 



