TURRUCARES AND RIO GRANDE DE TARCOLES 369 



The banks of this stream were muddy, and in the open 

 pasture the muddy spots attracted great swarms of butter- 

 flies which clustered closely at certain places. These butter- 

 flies were almost exclusively white or yellow Plerinae but 

 there was one almost white Papilio with long tails. In fact 

 not only this day and here, but also at other days and places 

 around Turrucares we saw many such swarms over muddy 

 places and on dung. 



The potrero through which we passed had in it a number 

 of fine cedro {Cedrela) and guanacaste trees. The cedro has 

 nothing whatever in common with our cedar; it belongs to 

 the family Meliaceae. The guanacastes, unlike those at El 

 Brazil, Alajuela, had not dropped their leaves. 



Looking directly south from the front of the Custodio's 

 house, the horizon was formed by a ridge of mountains 

 sometimes called the Cerro de Puriscal, for to the south of 

 the ridge lay the town of that name. At the eastern end 

 of the cerro was a sharply conical peak, the Pico de Tina- 

 maste, "tinamaste" being the name applied to the stones 

 forming an oven as commonly built in this district, instead 

 of bricks as I have described the one in the Custodio's 

 kitchen. 



On the morning of August 15 four of us, joined later by 

 the Custodio, rode in the direction of the Pico de Tinamaste 

 nearly to the town of Naranjo, which latter however we did 

 not see. Professor Alfaro wanted to look for fossils and a 

 few were found, chiefly Scala and Pecten, which are said to 

 be of Miocene age. They would indicate, therefore, that 

 this part of Costa Rica was submerged at that period. I 

 found one fragment of a Pecten shell on a piece of stone em- 

 bedded in the road over which we had all passed, and calling 

 Professor Alfaro's attention to it, he dug it out and carried 

 it off. 



The road for much of the way, especially near Turrucares, 



