430 A YEAR OF COSTA RICAN NATURAL HISTORY 



with a body only three-fourths of an inch long and spiny 

 legs two and three-quarters inches long, which when pur- 

 sued ran over the surface of the rocks and then below the 

 water's surface, clinging to the vertical face of the stones; 

 it was easily dragged forth from this position. 



Returning from the hotel after breakfast one day by a 

 new route we passed in a garden a tree whose fruit was new 

 to me; Seiior Villar called it "seso vegetal" — vegetable 

 brain — and gathered a few for us to examine. They were 

 three inches long, two and one-quarter inches thick and had 

 three grooves running lengthwise on the surface so that in 

 lower end view each fruit was distinctly three-lobed. Along 

 the middle of each lobe ran a slight ridge. The outside 

 was pale yellow and red, like certain apples. The surface 

 grooves and lines branch, and red fibers, which may be fan- 

 cied to represent arteries, pass inward, so that the resem- 

 blance to a small cerebrum is striking. The whitish pulp is 

 eaten when cooked but is said to be very poisonous in the raw 

 state. It contains a single shining black seed in each of the 

 three compartments which correspond to the external lobes. 

 The upper surfaces of the large compound leaves are a shin- 

 ing green. The leaflets are six and one-half inches long and 

 three and one-quarter wide, rounded at the tip and ar- 

 ranged in even numbers. The tree {Blighia sapida or Cu- 

 pania akesia) is a native of West Tropical Africa. 



The examinations of teachers which the Commission had 

 been holding were threefold for each teacher — written, oral 

 and practical. The last consisted in the candidate's giving 

 a lesson before the Commission while her efficiency, methods, 

 etc., were noted. A number of the school children, both 

 boys and girls, were assembled for this purpose and the les- 

 sons given to them under as normal conditions as possible. 

 These examinations were now sufficiently advanced to enable 

 Professor Tristan to go with me on an excursion lasting sev- 



