It yourself. I should never have been contented if 1 had 
not gone to some of the places that I visited this year, for 
otherwise I should always have believed that I had probably 
overlooked a rich opportunity. 
I made two ma^or trips far from'the Meseta Central. 
The first was to Santa Maria de Dota, about 35 miles from 
San Jose, and south of Cartago. The mountains immediately 
at the south of Cartago are perhaps the richest region of all 
Costa Rica, and I had supposed that the mountains of Dota 
would be a continuation of them, with respect to flora. 
In this I was sadly mistaken. The region is comparatively 
dry, and the forests almost wholly of oaks. Orchids are few 
and'far between. Still, I did get some of them. It was 
very remarkable to find here great quantities of orchids 
that are normally epiphytic, growing in colonies upon the 
ground in the oak forest. The plants in many cases were 
evidently many years old, and they occurred in such profusion 
as to indicate that their occurrence was not accidental. 
The reason for such a habit I do not know. Possibly they are 
plants that fell on the ground years ago when trees were cut 
for lumber or fuel, although I rather doubt this. I have 
never seen anything like it elsewhere. Ordinarily, when 
trees are cut the small orchids die almost at once, and soon 
after the large ones. I have never seen even the large 
ones persisting on the ground upon such occasions. Of course, 
high up in the wet mountain forests you often do find 
epiphytic orchids on wet mossy banks, but the conditions 
there are similar to those existing on the moss-covered 
tree trunks. 
This case was quite different, for conditions in these 
oak forests were almost xerophytic. I think I have Or- 
chidotypus again, from this region; perhaps i am mistaken. 
At least it is a plant equally small. 
I should not have stayed so long--over three weeks--in 
Santa Marfa, but I was always hoping to find something 
better somewhere. The most interesting place in the region 
that I saw was the Cerro de las Vueltes, to which we made 
two trips. It has an altitude of 10,000 feet, and is ex¬ 
actly like the paramos of the Andes. The plants are of 
Andean types and genera, and I suspect a good proportion o^ 
them belong to new species. One was a Rumex about h feet 
high: Up there I found, if I remember correctly, only 
■three orchids. Two were Telipogons, and I shall be dis¬ 
appointed it they do not turn out to be new species. 
From Santa Marla we went directly to Guanacaste, where we 
spent nearly a month. I like Guanacaste much better when I 
am somewhere else. Under other conditions I might like i 
better, but I shall be surprised if I ever want to go back 
there. Still, I have a very good collection from the region, 
not as many plants as I ought to have, by any means. No one 
had ever collected there before, and i suppose 1 must have a 
good many new things. There are not so many as I had hoped 
for, for the vegetation is strikingly like that of central 
Costa Rica; it ought to be difierent. 
The altitude of the mountains near Tllaran is only 
