Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 
9 
after our arrival we were greeted by the first rain since we left 
Bluefields. We had had five consecutive days and nights without 
rain, and we were not to see such a dry spell as this again in the 
three months following. 
The little mining town of Eden is situated on the eastern side of 
a range of mountains, 1500 to 2500 feet in height, in the center of 
what is known as the Pis Pis Mining District. 
All of the surrounding mines were closed down during our stay, 
the Eden Mine only producing gold. The town built entirely by 
the Mining Company, is a model up-to-date plant including hydro¬ 
electric plant, cyanide mill, machine shop, saw mill, ice plant, a 
well-stocked store, staff house, and other necessities in a tropical 
mining community. The staff house, a two-story frame building 
in the shape of a U, with porches extending around the entire 
building on both floors, supplied extremely comfortable living 
quarters for twenty-five or thirty persons. We occupied a large 
second-story room on the north corner and every thing possible 
was done for our comfort. From the porch at an elevaton of 700 
feet, we had a fine view of the surrounding mountains and cleared 
patrero, with its grazing cattle, fattening for beef. The porch in 
front of our room answered admirably for our workshop, where we 
skinned and made-up our specimens in the daytime, while at night 
we worked in our room amply supplied with electric lights. Electric 
lights were hung at regular intervals on both porches and in the 
basement, two sides of which were open. These lights at night 
attracted great quantities of insects of every description, affording 
a wonderful opportunity to collect many rare forms that otherwise 
we would not have found. By hanging sheets of white cheesecloth 
behind some of these lights, several thousand night flying Lepidop- 
tera were added to the Academy’s collection. 
Field work began at six in the morning, with a tramp into the 
surrounding forest to collect birds and mammals, returning about 
eleven for a shower bath and lunch. The afternoon, and generally 
until eleven or twelve at night, was taken up in skinning and 
making-up the specimens secured in the morning, for in this hot 
damp climate they spoiled very quickly. The forest round about 
Eden was extremely difficult to get through as the heavy under¬ 
growth matted and tangled, formed a barrier no one could penetrate 
without first cutting a trail. The immense buttresses of the 
