pectiliariti.es result from that. These specimens of his 
I will deposit upon your doorstep, with my best wishes, 
and wish you good luck of them. As a matter of fact, 
I think there need he no special difficulty with regard to 
them, and I suspect that Don Alberto has been more or less 
misjudged by his associates, who have little patience with 
him. Prom what I had been told, I had expected *hen I 
met him to see someone verging upon lunacy, and I was agree¬ 
ably surprised. 
He is a small man, very shy, and apparently quick to 
take offense. I suppose he is about fifty, but perhaps 
much older. Whether he is now engaged in teaching, I am 
not certain, but I believe not. Por the past two or three 
years he has been employed nominally as curator of the 
herbarium in the National Museum, and it certainly needs 
curating, but he never appeared at the museum. He was 
paid a regular salary of course, but recently the Minister 
of Education, in view of the fact that he was never seen 
about the Museum, has decided to withdraw the salary, and 
I suspect that Don Alberto will be hard put to it for 
funds. He talked to us upon the subject and seemed more 
pained than indignant. He stated that he had been devoting 
all his time to making collections for the Museum, of which 
collections these orchids are the principal part. 
When 1 first went to San Jose I spoke to Don Anastasio 
about getting in touch with Brenes, stating that if possible 
I wished to secure a set of the orchids. The former took 
up the matter with the Minister, who suggested that Don 
Alberto be ordered to turn over a set of them, since they 
were property of the Museum—you will see how many little 
complications are attached to this set before I finish. 
As a matter of fact, Don Anastasio said that there was no 
objection to Don Alberto's disposing of the specimens as 
he wished, providing one set of them was deposited in the 
Museum. Such a set is still in Heredia, waiting only for 
the names. 
The specimens going to you were collected in one or 
two years, I do not remember which. They were all that 
there was time to prepare, but Don Alberto has a still 
larger lot that he will send you. The specimens seem to 
be in reasonably good condition, and there must be a lot 
of good things among them, for he knows the plants well. 
Here I should state that Don Alberto promised to 
write you a long letter explaining all the circumstances 
connected with this sending, and 1 hope he has already done 
so. .He was to give it to me for transmission to me, but 
he did not have time to prepare it before I left. I sug¬ 
gested that he should express himself with all frankness, 
so that there should be as full an understanding between 
you as possible. 
The l8.beIs I am afraid you may have some difficulty 
in deciphering, but the collector will, I know, be glad to 
help in tinderstanding them. The original notes were in 
Spanish, but, upon being asked, I stated that I did not 
know whether you read Spanish or not, but was sure that 
