I48 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [June, 



all boxes and un-paraffined corks, and thus mold is sure to grow 

 wherever there is "dead" air. Indeed, I doubt whether tin- 

 cases could be used with any success for the storage of specimens. 

 Leather leggings give protection from palm -thorns and snake- 

 teeth, but when a few ants crawl beneath them — well, they must 

 come off at once. It is almost impossicle to cross a moving army 

 of ants without suffering thereby. 



Water is usually all right if it runs. Fruits are dangerous un- 

 less well cooked. An intolerable itching beginning at the ankles 

 and spreading over the body lasts for a few weeks after entering 

 "la tierra caliente;" unless the condition of the blood is very 

 good it amounts to much more than a " heat rash." Bilious, 

 intestinal, and malarial diseases are the most common. The 

 dangers from poisonous plants and insects, " tigres" and " In- 

 dios" may be overestimated, but the collector would be fool- 

 hardy to go about without his revolver. 



Although the country has many faults there are many things 

 about it to gladden the heart of the would-be entomologist. 

 There the brilliant Morpho peleides flits about the tree-tops, the 

 Ithomias hover on gaudy wings in the sunshiny vistas, and per- 

 chance a royal Caligo floats across the forest path and folds its 

 purple vesture upon the trunk of some rough-barked tree before 

 the very eyes of the collector — safe in its mimicry. Huge flies, 

 mighty Cerambycidae ; beautiful Odonata, like the lazy Megalo- 

 prepus ccerulescens , and ferocious Hymenoptera; they are there, 

 and it is a wonderful thing to live there with them and get ac- 

 quainted with them all. It is truly a great thing to live in the 

 tierra caliente, in the " rich faunal region" where one can see the 

 species actually alive and in their proper environment, fresh and 

 [occasionally] entire and " at their best." However, it is a great 

 thing to see the same specimens {i. e., the perfect ones) arranged 

 over the white paper of a cabinet; to have a bed to sleep upon 

 and something to eat; to live without fever and within reach of a 

 physician. 



Idealization is an excellent thing in its place — in magazine 

 articles, for example; but it wilts in the desert places and cannot 

 thrive in a tropical forest. 





