80 ILLINOIS STATE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



tain mass known as Mount Poas in Costa Rica, a species 

 of Solanum which is conspecific with the South Ameri- 

 can Solatium tuberosum L. from which our common Irish 

 potato has been derived. It would seem that we have 

 here also a case of northern migration of an Andean 

 species. Further investigations along these lines would 

 unquestionably yield interesting and valuable results in 

 determining the relation of our Central American flora to 

 that of Andean South America; and a most profitable 

 region for investigation in plant distribution is that of 

 these great east and west ranges of Costa Rica, Nica- 

 ragua, and Honduras. 



It is, of course, well known that Central America for 

 many years, mainly through corporation interests, has 

 been a source of supply for certain staple food and other 

 economic plant products, particularly bananas, coffee, 

 dye woods, fibers, etc. The natural resources, however, 

 have been barely touched; but as a matter of fact the 

 possibilities for development and increase of out-put of 

 these and similar products are more promising today 

 than ever before. There are already limited facilities 

 for botanical research at the laboratory in connection 

 with the hospital at Ancon in the Canal Zone, and cer- 

 tain research work is there under way. There is also 

 a small government station at Frijoles in the Canal Zone 

 where certain experimental work on tropical fruits is be- 

 ing conducted under the direction of Doctor David Fair- 

 child. The various corporations, like the United Fruit 

 Company, employ their own specialists to take care of 

 their special botanical problems. Furthermore, as you 

 doubtless know, a movement is under way to establish 

 somewhere in the American tropics a station where it 

 will be possible to carry on various lines of botanical ac- 

 tivity. Transportation facilities between the different 

 Central American countries are being extended by the 

 Ferro Nacional or National Railway. Indeed, one can 

 now travel by rail all the way from any railway point in 

 the United States to Guatemala City, and it will be only 

 a short time before that railway system will be extended 

 through Salvador ; and eventually it will be continued to 

 the Canal Zone. Railways and roadways are being built 



