34 Bulletin American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXXVI, 



" I did not attempt to explore the marsh to its full extent because of its 

 evident treachery and the difficulty of progress through it. It was appar- 

 ently surrounded on all sides by forest, although toward the south this 

 seemed to thin out and was perhaps no more than a fringe about the edge. 

 The marsh appeared as though it sometimes might be a lake although at 

 this time of year (November) there was little open water. The predominant 

 vegetation was a coarse sedge, the tangled roots of which furnished the only 

 support for one attempting to walk through it, for elsewhere, and below 

 these roots, was bottomless black muck. About the edge of the marsh, 

 fringing the forest, was a rank growth, almost impenetrable, of thorny 

 bushes and growing out into the marsh were scattered bushes of marsh 

 mallows {Hibiscus?). Where the sedges had not yet established themselves, 

 were extensive rafts of the water hyacinth and a plant that looks like coarse 

 lettuce. On these rafts were flocks of Jacanas and Spurwings, White Ibis, 

 Roseate Spoonbills, and White Egrets. In the small patches of open water 

 floated Muscovy Ducks, Cinnamon Teal, Fulvous and Black-bellied Tree 

 Ducks. In the sedges Rails skulked and there were many Screamers. The 

 Black Marsh Hawk (Circus) skimmed low over the sedges just like our 

 northern bird, and a few King Vultures sailed high overhead. It was a 

 wonderful spot, I should like to have spent a month in studying it alone." 



El Roble.^^"'E[ Roble, at an altitude of 7100 feet, is the last posada 

 before descending into the valley of the Boquia. The collecting here was 

 done in two kinds of places: the comparatively level forest at the altitude 

 given, and the forest at a considerable lower level filling the valley of one 

 of the tributaries of the Boquia. The level forest was not much less humid 

 than that at Laguneta, with correspondingly less moss on the trees and on 

 the forest floor. That along the stream was just as humid, if not more so 

 than at Laguneta. Along the trail and about clearings, etc. the plants and 

 birds were similar to those about Call, but in the forest and particularly 

 along the stream, the forms were those of the Subtropical Zone. The 

 'century plant' and the tree fern seemed to me to reach their greatest 

 luxuriance here, the tree fern in the forest, the yucca in the open country, 

 along roadsides, etc." 



Salento. — " Most of our collecting near Salento was done along the 

 Boquia River at an altitude of 6500 feet. The flora and fauna of the open 

 country of the Boquia Valley and about Salento is similar to that of El 

 Roble with a somewhat larger amount of the Cauca Valley element such as 

 the Spanish bayonet, yuccas, plantains, a few bananas and oranges. Com- 



1 To prevent confusion with a station of the same name above Fusugasug^, in the Eastern Andes, 

 specimens taken at El Roble are listed under Salento, the Salento collecting ground being nearby and 

 in the same zone. — F. M. C. 



