I02 A YEAR OF COSTA RICAN NATURAL HISTORY 



face of the entire body. This species has the tarsi of all the 

 legs and the apices of the hinder four tibiae black, the rest 

 of the legs red. The other species {M. sericinus) lacks these 

 hairs on the wing-covers; instead a little more than the rear 

 half of these organs is metallic green; the tarsi of all the legs 

 and all of the hinder four tibiae are black. In both species 

 the females may be distinguished by having a slender proc- 

 ess on the prosternum just behind the first coxae and by 

 having one or two pale bristles (in addition to the numerous 

 short whitish hairs) on each side of the ventral surface of the 

 abdominal segments. 



In April, small blue butterflies {Lycana isola) were very 

 abundant on the eastern road to Tierra Blanca at an eleva- 

 tion of 5000 to 6000 feet, particularly over damp spots and 

 on horse-droppings. This species, which has a wing-spread 

 of three-quarter inch, has been found as far north as Illi- 

 nois. 



Below Cartago the Reventado ran through coffee fields 

 too thoroughly cultivated for the stream to have much in- 

 terest for us or was simply an unshaded brook in open pas- 

 tures. 



San Rafael was a good-sized village northeast of Cartago 

 and practically continuous with it. North of San Rafael 

 was the berry farm of Juan Rudin, a Swiss who had been in 

 Costa Rica some twenty years. He had about two man- 

 zanas of beautiful fertile land in strawberries, the finest 

 berries and most perfect plants imaginable. We found this 

 farm on March 29, 1910, after some inquiries, one of the 

 things by which we were to recognize it from the road being 

 a large and beautiful rosebush in the patio. After a little 

 preliminary conversation under the rose tree — which fully 

 justified its reputation in this land of fine roses, for it grew 

 ten feet high, spread out in both directions the whole length 

 of the house and was covered with magnificent pinkish- 



