JUAN VINAS— TENANTS OF BROMELIADS 231 



America. Other epiphytic bromeliads of Costa Rica, which 

 in general appearance are more suggestive of pineapples, are 

 of the genera Androlepis, Jechmea, Billbergia and Pitcair- 

 nia. Collectively they range from sea-level to the craters 

 of such volcanoes as Irazu (11,000 feet), but they are much 

 more abundant in the moister parts of the country. Some- 

 times they are situated close to the ground; frequently they 

 are attached to an unbranched trunk thirty or forty feet 

 from the soil, or may be lodged among the branches at a 

 still greater height. Their narrow leaves, often two feet or 

 more long, taper gradually to near the tip; they are toothed 

 or spined on their edges and in color a bright green or a beau- 

 tiful pink or red. The leaves spring from a very short stalk 

 so that their bases are pressed closely together. As a rule 

 a number of stocks grow side by side on the same host tree, 

 whose trunk or branch they may completely encircle, and as 

 the stocks may also be attached to each other it is not easy 

 to separate one individual plant from its fellows. The 

 leaves diverge from their bases and either stretch up stiffly 

 for their entire length or droop gracefully near the tips; 

 owing to their stiffness and their serrated spiny edges they 

 must be handled carefully to avoid scratched and bleeding 

 hands. 



On October 3, P. examined some of the more accessible 

 of these plants on the Reventazon road. The first was 

 quite a thick clump, not more than eight feet above the 

 ground with many vines growing about it. I threw a rope, 

 weighted with a stone at one end, over it and by pulling on 

 both ends brought the whole mass to the ground much more 

 easily than I expected, leaving the tree-trunk to which it 

 had been attached quite clean. Some large, black, rather 

 slender ants {Odontomachus hastatus) appeared very soon 

 after the mass fell. They were 15 mm. (Vs) inch long and 

 had long slender jaws bent near the tip; as they ran about 



