Vol. xxii] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 403 



The pineapple is the most familiar example of this family of 

 plants, although, of course, it is not an epiphyte. The epiphytic 

 bromeliads of Costa Rica, in addition to the Tillandsiae, per- 

 tain to the genera Androlcpis, Aechmca, Billbergia and Pit- 

 cairnia, according to Werckle ( 1909) . Their range is from sea- 

 level to the craters of such volcanos as Irazu (ii,ooo feet, 3300 

 metres), but they are most abundant in the moister parts of the 

 country. To the naturalist traveling along the usual route from 

 Limon to San Jose, the most striking difference between the al- 

 most constantly moist Atlantic slope and the Pacific side, with 

 its definite dry season, is the much greater number of brome- 

 liad and other epiphytes on the former. 



On the pruned trees of the poro (Erythrina) and other spe- 

 cies which form the cercas or hedges, surrounding the fields and 

 pastures near Cartago (Atlantic slope), bromeliads with leaves 

 five to ten inches (12.5-25 cm.) in length are extremely abun- 

 dant. They frequently but not invariably contain water and 

 usually harbor some insects, especially Blattidae, but they never 

 furnished any Odonate larvae, nor were imagos of Mecisto- 

 gaster ever met at this altitude (4750 feet, 1450 metres), in 

 our experience. 



Epiphytic bromeliads of greater size (/. c, with leaves two to 

 three feet, 60-90 cm., long) occur in forests both below and 

 above this elevation, but our collections of Odonate larvae from 

 them, as well as our observations of Mecistogaster adults, were 

 made at altitudes lower than 3300 feet (1000 metres). The 

 leaves of these plants spring from such a very short stock that 

 their bases are close together and the blades of the leaves in 

 contact with each other for several inches. As a general rule a 

 number of stocks grow side by side on the same host 

 tree, whose trunk or branch they may completely encircle, and 

 as the stocks may be attached to each other it is not easy to sep- 

 arate one individual plant from its fellows. The leaves, with 

 the length mentioned, taper from base to apex, diverge from 

 their fellows and either stretch up stiffly for their entire length 

 or droop over gracefully near their tips ; owing to their stiflf- 



