SANTA CLARA 277 



ing down upon the insect when at rest the black sides were 

 unnoticed while the white central portion was highly conspic- 

 uous. This naturally gave the appearance of the slender- 

 waisted abdomen of a wasp, an illusion which was increased 

 by the narrow transparent wings. 



I ate my lunch on a great rock in the midst of a smaller 

 arm of the Rio Guapiles which flows past a little island. 

 From this rock I could look into a quiet pool seemingly 

 about four or five feet deep in which were fishes six to seven 

 inches long. They reminded me of that fine fresh-water 

 fish, the bobo, which was twice served for dinner at Salvador 

 while I was there. One of the two, seven pounds in weight, 

 was said by Mrs. Reed to be the largest she had met with 

 in her housekeeping. Mr. Reed said that fishes in these 

 rivers will not bite at hooks but are obtained by exploding a 

 charge of dynamite in the river which stuns, and kills many 

 fishes which are then picked up by men who wade out to 

 gather them. It is a most wasteful method and should be 

 prohibited, or at least restricted, by the Government, but 

 nothing had yet been done. No one at table suggested a 

 comparison of bobo with one of our fishes, but all agreed that 

 it is superfine and there were no small bones to detract 

 from the enjoyment of eating it. This fish has also been 

 mentioned on page 264. 



On the third of June, arrangements having been made the 

 day before, Mr. Schaus, Mr. Barnes and I went to the rail- 

 road where a hand car was waiting, with a negro and a Costa 

 Rican to work it. This took us westward along the tracks 

 to San Jacinto, a farmhouse, near which a negro was waiting 

 to guide us to the present starting point of the "Florida 

 Road," a trail leading into untouched forest. This was a 

 favorite collecting ground of the two butterfly hunters but 

 since their last visit here, two years ago, much of the forest 

 had been cut down and the entrance to the trail consequently 



