LOWER NEIGHBORS OF CART AGO 1 59 



a quarter of a mile wide and was hemmed in hy abrupt cliffs 

 and hills. Pena Blanca is a group of particularly high cliffs 

 rising several hundred feet above the meadows at their 

 bases, with steep often vertical faces but broken into ledges 

 here and there giving foothold to a luxurious vegetation. 

 The cliffs are quite white in color and are most picturesque 

 in their bold outlines and the contrast between the bare 

 gleaming rock and the dark green of the forest capping them 

 and clinging to every ledge. There is a little amphitheater 

 hemmed in by such cliffs. Beyond Peiia Blanca the road 

 dwindles to a trail leading into the hills, past other cliffs of 

 darker rock. 



On the right (east) side of the Naranjo a cart track led up 

 into the wooded hills not far distant and on March 9 we 

 spent the morning there. A tiny stream tumbling out of 

 the woods and shaded by some crotons offered an inviting 

 resting-place when we tired of fruitlessly searching after 

 dragonflies. In the more level meadows nearer the stream 

 were many large trees loaded with epiphytes, which had 

 been left standing — probably to give partial shade to the 

 cattle — when the forest was cleared away. We carefully 

 explored some large and accessible bromeliads growing in 

 great numbers on a fine Inga with glossy leaves — probably 

 ^^ cuajiniquilJ' This did not prove fruitful of dragonfly 

 larvae, a result we had indeed expected, for the tree stood 

 in the open sunlight because of the cutting of the surround- 

 ing forest. There were enough brown cockroaches {Blat- 

 ella bruneriana), spiders {Cupiennius coccineus, Selenops 

 mexicana), and earwigs to add excitement to the search. In 

 the cleared fields at the upper end tree-ferns ten or more 

 feet high were standing isolated in full sunshine. 



One afternoon was spent in the valley of the Rio Oro a 

 short distance west of the village. We rode up between 

 cafetales and potreros, then leaving the horses we descended 



