﻿NO. 7 SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, I926 III 



The present field-work was made possible through the allotment 

 of a grant by the American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, a contribution from the New York Botanical Garden, and 

 the hearty cooperation of the United Fruit Company. In all, about 

 15,000 botanical specimens were collected, representing 2,050 col- 

 lecting numbers, and in addition a few other miscellaneous natural 

 history specimens. The fern material will assist greatly in the pro- 

 jected manuscript, which is planned for publication by the British 

 Museum. It is to be hoped that means will be found for continuing 

 the Jamaican exploration, which, in spite of work already done, 

 offers as fascinating an opportunity of botanical field-work as may 

 be imagined. 



BOTANICAL FIELD-WORK IN PANAMA AND COSTA RICA 



In November, 1925, Mr. Paul C. Standley, associate curator, divi- 

 sion of plants, U. S. National Museum, spent three weeks in the 

 Canal Zone, in continuance of his previous studies upon the flora, 

 as a result of which there is now ready for publication an account 

 of the plant life of the Isthmus. At the invitation of Dr. Thomas 

 Barbour and Mr. James Zetek a week was spent on Barro Colorado 

 Island in Gatun Lake at the Lal)oratory for Tropical Research directed 

 by the National Research Council. 



This island, about six square miles in extent and for the greater 

 part heavily forested, was set aside four years ago as a reservation 

 for the wild life of the Canal Zone. The heavy rainfall, sometimes 

 as much as 30 inches per month, is favorable to a luxuriant plant 

 growth. The huge trees, of great variety, are loaded with aroids. 

 bromeliads, orchids, and other epiphytes, afifording a rich field for 

 the study of these groups. Mr. Standley collected about 500 specimens, 

 and has prepared for publication a list of the plants known from the 

 island, amounting to about 600 species. 



From the first of December until early April Mr. Standlev was 

 engaged in botanical work in Costa Rica. Nearly a month was 

 devoted to exploration of the region of Santa Maria de Dota in 

 south-central Costa Rica. Santa Maria, situated at an elevation of 

 5,000 feet, is surrounded on all sides by high mountains. Originally 

 they were covered with dense oak forest, but much of this has been 

 cut to permit cultivation. Inasmuch as the region was practical! v 

 unknown botanically, it yielded a rich harvest of new or otherwise 

 interesting plants. Of special interest were several sphagnum bogs 

 lying at a considerable elevation in the dense forest, in which grow 



