362 Natural History Bulletin. 



until they had been washed with alcohol and dried in the sun; 

 seeds and fruits, Fungi and other specimens which were ex- 

 posed for the purpose of drying were soon lost in the dense 

 coat of mould, and this was true not only of the fresh mate- 

 rial which was collected at Castillo, but also of many of the 

 Ometepe specimens which had not been permanently packed 

 in the hurry of leaving the island. Indeed it seemed for a 

 time as if the fruits of several weeks' labor were to be lost, 

 but the specimens were finally saved by thorough washing in 

 alcohol by which the spores and hyphas of the mould were 

 destroyed. The alcohol was applied mostly with a small 

 bulb-pipette, and the specimens were again dried. Many of 

 the pressed plants were treated in this way three or four 

 times, which necessitated the handling of each one six or 

 eight times oftener than would otherwise have been the case. 



The last 18 days at Castillo were given entirely to such 

 overhauling of the material, and to packing, much of the work 

 being done on improvised tables in the open air on the lee- 

 ward side of the work-shop under the direct rays of the trop- 

 ical sun, this being the only possible method of thoroughly 

 drying the specimens with the facilities at hand. At times 

 the struggle seemed almost hopeless, but it may be well to 

 remark here that the material finally reached Iowa City in 

 good condition, neither the mould nor the alcohol affecting 

 the specimens to any appreciable extent. 



As the first 6 days at Castillo were non-productive because 

 of heavy rains, and the last 18 were devoted to the struggle 

 with the mould, and to packing, only 17 days remained for 

 active field-work and study. This, coupled with the fact that 

 some specimens of Phanerogams and a few Ferns were ruined 

 in press by the mould and moisture, accounts for the compar- 

 atively small number of pressed specimens from this locality. 

 The latter portion of the collecting period was consumed by 

 the writer principally in collecting Ferns as it would have 

 been impossible in the short allotted time to care for all the 

 plants which could have been obtained. 



