the Fauna of Bromeliacew. 425 



comme milieu biologique/' ^Monsieur C. Picado has likened 

 the Bromeliacepe and their contents taken as a whole to 

 "un grand marecage fractionne, etendu dans toute TAmeri- 

 que intertropicale/' The bromeliad marshes, he writes, 

 are very different from terrestrial marshes, owing to their 

 arboreal situation, restricted area, conditions of lighting, &c. ; 

 they are supplied not only with rain-water, but also with 

 w^ater condensed daily from the atmosphere, and so they 

 may continue to contain water even at seasons when terres- 

 trial marshes are dried up; substances do not undergo a 

 real putrefaction in Bromeliaccce *, but the water in them is 

 exceptionally pure. Dr. Ohaus also mentions (Stettin, ent. 

 Zeit. 1900, p. 211) that the water in bromeliads does not 

 disappear even in the dry season, and even in places where 

 sometimes rain does not fall for months. From this it can 

 be seen that the fauna is likely to be largely amphibious or 

 aquatic in nature. 



Professor P. P. Calvert, who has given much time to the 

 study of the bromeliad fauna in Costa Rica, has published 

 several articles on the subject, dealing particularly with the 

 bromeliadicolous Odonate larvae. Previously to his researches 

 nothing was known of the early stages of the remarkable 

 dragonflies of the genus Mecistogaster, the larvai of which 

 are among the most interesting of the bromeliad dwellers. 

 In one paper he states that various forms of animal life are 

 found in the Bromeliaccic in many localities, i. e. at very 

 different elevations and consequently under very different 

 climatic conditions : " cockroaches, earwigs, katydid-like 

 insects, larvae of beetles, of moths, of flies and of mosquitos, 



ants , snails, earthworms, scorpions, both true and 



false, centipedes, and even snakes of poisonous repute are 

 common bi'omeliadico/i which we met in our examinations "'f. 

 In another article is given a long list X of the creatures 

 found in a single clump of Bromeliacese near Juan Viiias, 

 a list which includes Odonate larvse, a scorpion and a 

 pseudoscorpion, Phalangids, Coleoptera and Coleopterous 

 larvae of many kinds (including Hydrophilidce, Elateridse, a 

 Lampyrid, an Endomychid, a weevil, &c.), Lepidopterous 

 and Dipterous larvse, two Heteropterous bugs, an earwig, an 



* See a second article by Picado, C. R. Ac. Sci., tome cliv. no. 9, 1912, 

 p. f.07. 



t From 'Old Penn,' Weekly Review of the University of Penn- 

 sylvania, ix. no. 6, pp. 165-170 (1910) : an extract is given by Champion 

 in Ent. Mo. Mag. xxii. 1911, p. 17. 



X Ent. News Philad. xxii. 1911, pp. 402-11 : the list referred to above 

 is quoted m extenso in Ent. Rec. xxiv. 1912, p. 76. 



Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 8. Vol x. 29 



