Vol. xxii] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 407 



tomachus hastatiis Fabr., with enormously developed jaws, 

 bent near the tip, which are carried wide open and measure 

 one-quarter inch from tip to tip ; occasionally they would be 

 snapped shut with a very audible click."* We were by no 

 means always successful, however, either in finding- Odonate 

 larvae in bromeliads or in pulling down the plants from the 

 trees, as records in our diary for La Emilia in November, 1909, 

 and at Juan Vinas in February and March, 1910, show. Our 

 last collection from them was on April 26, 1910, when we ex- 

 amined clumps of bromeliads on trees near the edg^e of a clear- 

 ing about 100 feet below the railroad tracks west of Juan Vinas 

 station, altitude about 3200 feet. Here we "found a few larvae 

 of Mecistogaster with the accompaniment of spiders, cock- 

 roaches, mosquitoes, slugs, planarians, earthworms and big- 

 jawed ants." Among the Mecistogaster larvae was one smaller 

 than any we had previously found and I carelessly did not im- 

 mediately separate it from its larger brethren ; when I turned 

 to do so it had disappeared, and we had no doubt that it iiad 

 suffered from the cannibalistic habits of all its tribe. 



The fate of our bromeliadicolous Odonate larvae was as fol- 

 lows. The three of October 3-4, 1909. reached our headquar- 

 ters at Cartago alive and were placed in separate glass tumb- 

 lers, each containing a little water and a miniature bromeliad 

 from the neighboring cercas. They were fed with, and were 

 seen to eat, smaller dragonfly larvae. The larva of Oct. 3 (No. 

 49) died in the act of moulting, Oct. 8, being unable to cast 

 the skin from its head and especially the mask. One of those 

 of Oct. 4 died from some unknown cause and its hinder parts 

 were eaten by its companion before separation; the other (No. 

 48) moulted between Oct. 15 and 24, while we were absent, 

 and again on Dec. 25, but died Dec. 30-31. 



The larvae obtained Dec. 17, 1909, were similarly arranged at 



♦Commenting on specimens of this species, Prof. Wheeler wrote : 

 "I find in my collection a series of specimens taken in bromeHads at 

 Alto de Serra in the Province of Sao Paulo, Brazil, by von Ihering. 

 Apparently it has a habit of nesting in such places." We found it in a 



number of bromeliads in Costa Rica. 



