294 A YEAR OF COSTA RICAN NATURAL HISTORY 



and in a short time the procession was again continuous, 

 every insect in the line making a slight detour around the 

 wet mud. 



Then taking a little stick I drew it across the line of march 

 so as to form a tiny trench about an inch long, an eighth of 

 an inch wide and an eighth to a quarter inch deep. Again 

 were the termites troubled when they reached its edge, and 

 some time elapsed before a detour was made around it and 

 the march resumed. A few also made, their way down into 

 and up out of the trench in the same line as they had origi- 

 nally marched. In both interruptions it seemed to be the 

 nasutes which led in finding the way, although a worker 

 was usually not far behind. 



I broke a little of the arched tunnel running up the tree- 

 trunk; within were ascending termites. When I came back 

 to this spot, in less than half an hour, the procession was 

 over, only a few straggling individuals being visible. 



The last five days of walking over wet, rough, uneven 

 ground had so chafed my heels that they were now very sore. 

 But I could not bear the thought of losing another oppor- 

 tunity of visiting the forest as the weather was good and I 

 needed to return to Cartago on the morrow. So on the sev- 

 enth, declining another offer of a horse for the same reason 

 as before, and taking lunch with me, I set out for the forest 

 road at the end of Spur i which I had already visited. Walk- 

 ing being slow and painful, it took me the greater part of 

 two hours to cover the three miles, including, however, a 

 half hour's stop in a broiling hot sun at the ditch near the 

 spur's end. 



A train of a few freight cars had been run up the spur this 

 morning and was stopping at the piles of bananas, which 

 were loaded into the cars by negroes. Banana cutting was 

 also proceeding on the nearer half of Spur i and 1600 stems 

 were expected for the day. From the farms the bananas 



