304 A YEAR OF COSTA RICAN NATURAL HISTORY 



many termite nests and tunnels among and on the trees. 

 Many of the inhabited nests were but three feet or so above 

 the ground. I broke a piece of a tunnel and of a nest; in 

 both cases the damage was at once inspected by nasutes, 

 ten or twelve appearing in the latter case, but repair did not 

 begin In either case as long as I cared to spend in watching. 



Under a very tall tree by the river bank were numerous 

 hard fruits three to four inches long, two to three wide and 

 one to one and one-half thick, flattened or concave on one 

 side, convex on the other, with low ridges radiating from 

 a point near the blunter end and with minute pits be- 

 tween the ridges. The following day Mr. Sullivan told me he 

 thought the tree producing them was called "cachelbo." 

 The fruits were subsequently identified by Professor Pit- 

 tier as Prioria copaifera, the Costa Rican "camibar." He 

 adds that from it is extracted the resin known in commerce 

 under the name of copaiba balsam, which has various ap- 

 plications in medicine and in pharmacy. 



By trolley again on the morning of the fifth I went to the 

 "Philadelphia E Line" of track, lying in Holanda Farm 

 (the Spanish name for Holland, referring to the low swampy 

 character of much of the land within it). Here by arrange- 

 ment of Mr. Veitch, Mr. Sullivan, the mandador, met me 

 to show me the path into the forest lying a short distance 

 north of the "E Line." Mr. Sullivan was formerly employed 

 in the Botanical Gardens in Jamaica and had some acquaint- 

 ance with plants in consequence. We went through the 

 bananas and then into the forest along Agua Buena Creek, 

 as it is marked on the Fruit Company's maps of these farms; 

 but the water although moderately clear did not look to be 

 particularly good as there were many shreds of apparently 

 organic matter in it. Its bottom is a bluish clay. The place 

 looked promising for dragonflies but the sky was dull — had 

 the sun shone brightly I think I should have secured some 



