462 A YEAR OF COSTA RICAN NATURAL HISTORY 



few drops of lemon juice, and without any disagreeable 

 consequences. The banks of this pool were of soft mud, 

 into which I could easily thrust a stick for two or three feet, 

 and covered with coarse grass. Some logs and planks had been 

 laid by previous visitors so that it was easy to reach the edge 

 of the clear water. A number of dragonflies were flying about 

 this pool and although none of their species were seen in the 

 neighboring forest, they were all of forms widespread 

 throughout tropical America.^ Floating in the warm water 

 were two fore wings and one hind wing of still another spe- 

 cies, Miathyria simplex, ally of M. marcella which we so often 

 saw in flocks, — the only evidence we obtained anywhere 

 of its presence in Costa Rica! Owing to the treacherous 

 character of the banks it was impossible to explore more than 

 a few feet of the pool's area and I was unable to find larvae 

 of any of these species by means of my water net. A hemip- 

 terous insect and a small fish were seen swimming in the 

 water. 



We ate our lunch under the nearest edge of the forest 

 and rested afterwards, while we made short trips to the hot 

 pool one at a time, including Pedro who had accompanied 

 us, to try to catch some additional dragonflies. We were 

 only able to remain a short time in the blaze of sunshine 

 there, however. We returned to Santa Cruz as we had come. 

 In the potrero between the two tracts of forest the cattle had 

 gathered to the number of fifty or so, but although one young 

 bull was inclined to show off at our expense he was easily 

 frightened away and his companions gave us no trouble. 



We revisited the forest north of Santa Cruz beyond Rollo 

 Jaen's on January 29, spending our time in looking for 



' The pool species were the slender Ischnura ramburi var. credula, with the 8th 

 and 9th abdominal segments sky-blue, Orthemis ferruginea with magenta abdomen, 

 Micrathyria ocellata qiiicha and M. aqualis, maturely-colored males of Erythemis 

 peruviana with pruinose purple thorax and stout red abdomen, and its slender- 

 abdomened congener, E. verbenata. 



