to the Tela Railroad at Melcher, and then on through endless banana lands to Tela, near which, at Lancetilla, our final work was planned.

Lancetilla, the site of the famous Tela "snake farm" and the Agricultural Experiment Station of the United Fruit Co., is situated in a narrow valley on the north face of the coastal Sierra Pija. The spur ridges encircling the little Lancetilla Valley are clothed with dense lowland rain-forest, the tropics par excellence. This forest is a portion of that great belt which reaches, in suitable environments and under favorable climatic conditions, from southern Mexico to Amazonia and beyond. Rain-forest trees are, on the average, tall, many are enormous in girth, and some of the greatest value economically.

A northern coast port of the Republic, through which great quantities of bananas are exported annually.

This is the land of the true mahogany, and here forest giants of many species, mingled with corozo palms bearing leaves nearly 33 feet long, tangled with lianes and other creepers, and decked with bizarre aroids and other epiphytes, make up the forest. Like many tropical forests elsewhere, this is double decked, with a lower story distinct and separate from the leafy dome which, over all else, shuts out the sky.

Howling monkeys, marmosets, sloths, jaguar, agoutis, tree porcupines, tapir and many other neotropical types of mammals make this forest their home, and the bird world is as distinctive and even more varied than that of the cloud-forest of the high mountains. Our knowledge of it, however, is proportionately greater, as considerable ornithological work has been done on Honduran rain-forest birds, but in spite of this the available information is by no means even approx

imately complete, and every sizeable collection, such as our own, adds new information on occurrence, distribution, and habits, if not species, new to science.

The insect life of the rain-forest is in bewildering variety, but while many of the species are readily seen, the far greater bulk of this astounding world of life is found only by long-continued search, on foliage, on and under bark, under dead leaves and stones upon the forest floor, tucked in hanging dead leaves, in the water pockets of tree-dwelling bromeliads, in blossoms, and many other places. Some insects haunt the "sunlight holes," where an opening in the green roof of the forest is responsible for a sunny patch of under vegetation, while others frequent only the darkest and most obscure recesses. An occasional brilliant metallic blue Morpho butterfly flits past in strong but apparently effortless flight, a large beetle drones by, amazingly formed, and colored true bugs top the clusters of weedy plants and throw off the most poignantly hideous stench if disturbed, while clear-winged butterflies flit in aimless fashion from one cluster of blossoms to another. The endless life of the rain-forest is on every side, although often hardly evident, as when the curtain of rain brings to the forest an indescribable pall-like gloom, but still it is there in amazing diversity, and the naturalist's task is to find the components of this life, their character, their relations and interdependence, their possible origin and history.

Our time having drawn to a close, we left Lancetilla for home, laden with material and information. The scientific results of our work will be issued in the technical publications of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. As is always the case, these contributions are just beginning to be made known to the world, for laboratory studies require far more time and effort than the layman realizes. The reports on the collections now in press, each in its respective field, contain more information than was known from all previous investigations in Honduras. The succeeding studies will in greater part be equally important and ground breaking.

In addition to the cordial assistance and cooperation of the Honduran Government already mentioned, the Academy's expedition was the recipient of every possible courtesy from the Governments of the Republic of Guatemala and that of El Salvador in connection with the entry and transit through their respective territories of the personnel and equipment of the expedition.

AN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY SCIENTIST IN COLOMBIA: JOSÉ CELESTINO MUTIS'

AMO

MONG the notable figures in science contemporary with Linnaeus, Humboldt, and Bonpland was José Celestino Mutis, a Spaniard by birth, who found in the Colombia of the last half of the eighteenth century an almost virgin field for his investigations in botany and other branches of natural history. This erudite and versatile man was for 25 years the head of a great botanical expedition; founder of the first astronomical observatory in the Western Hemisphere, established in Bogota in 1802; the discoverer of the nocturnal variation of the barometer; co-author of a grammar of Colombian Indian languages, prepared to satisfy a request which Catherine the Great of Russia made of the King of Spain; metallurgist who worked eight years improving methods of mining; priest; and beloved teacher of natural science.

Mutis, who was born in Cadiz in 1732, showed an especial aptitude for mathematics in his early studies, pursued in Seville, but later he specialized in medicine and taught anatomy in the University of Madrid, also studying botany in that city. In 1760 he was invited by Don Pedro Mesía de la Cerda, Viceroy of New Granada (known to us as the Republic of Colombia), to accompany him thither as his physician. Mutis accepted, and embarked for that distant colony where he was to remain until his death, in 1808. The lure of a new flora, already celebrated for the American drugs, quinine, balsam of Tolu, and cocaine, "the divine plant of the Incas," greatly influenced him in his decision, and he was consequently much irked by the demands upon his professional attention which for several years prevented him from leaving the capital. In the meantime, however, he gave public lectures on mathematics and Newtonian philosophy, and became the first professor of natural history in the Colegio del Rosario, that school of noble tradition, inspiring his students with a deep interest in his subject and defending publicly for the first time in America the planetary system of Copernicus. It is difficult now to realize that this was an intrepid act.

His predilections for natural science continued to increase with his residence in the New World, and in 1763 he sent a memorial to the King of Spain through the Viceroy petitioning the compilation of a natural history of America. No reply was received to this letter; and it was 20 years later that Charles III of Spain, a progressive and enlightened monarch, gave a favorable reception to Mutis's long

1 See the tribute of the Governing Board to the memory of Mutis, pp. 435 to 437.-EDITOR.

cherished idea. The King made him head botanist and astronomer of the Royal Botanical Expedition of northern South America, had the necessary books and instruments purchased, and assigned him a number of assistants, some of whom were to make paintings of the new plants found. Thereupon Mutis settled in Mariquita, near the Magdalena River, where the abundance of tropical flora offered him an excellent opportunity for his studies. These he pursued with the greatest diligence, analyzing new plants especially with a view to their medicinal properties.

Mutis's initiative was followed in other colonies, and by 1796 there were similar expeditions in Chile, Peru, Mexico, and Central America. Their joint purpose was to study the flora of America and assemble

specimens for a museum in Madrid which should be the marvel of all Europe.

At the end of eight years Mutis returned to Bogota for the sake of his health, taking with him a large number of drawings and much material. Here the personnel of the botanical expedition settled down in spacious quarters equipped with a large library and numerous pieces of scientific apparatus. Thirteen painters were now at work, and an enthusiastic group of young men, headed by Francisco José de Caldas, who is noted not only as a scientist but as a martyr of Colombian independence, came to study with the master.

"The fame of Mutis reached its zenith in 1801," writes Dr. Carlos E. Chardón, of the University of Puerto Rico, "when he received a visit from the traveler and naturalist Alexander von Humboldt. The latter had landed at Cumana, Venezuela, in 1799, accompanied by the French botanist Aimé Bonpland. In 1800 they explored the sources of the Orinoco, Casiquiare, and Negro Rivers, and since they had to go to Peru, they decided to ascend the Magdalena and spend several weeks in Bogota in order to become acquainted with Mutis. The arrival of these illustrious travelers in Bogota was a great occasion, giving rise to many social events. Humboldt was lodged near Mutis, with whom he exchanged vows of sincere and lasting friendship. The German scientist was amazed at Mutis's monumental work on the flora of New Granada, which already was composed of more than 6,000 colored drawings and 13 manuscript volumes. On their return to Europe, Humboldt and Bonpland inserted in the section on Plantes Equinoxiales of the celebrated account of their journeys a portrait of Mutis, with the following inscription: "To Don José Celestino Mutis, director of the Royal Botanical Expedition of the New Kingdom of Granada, astronomer of Santa Fe de Bogotá, as a slight testimony of admiration and friendship. A. Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland."

Spain and her viceroyalty of New Granada were not alone in benefiting by the researches of Mutis, for the European museums and the books on natural history published in his time were indebted to this faithful and obliging correspondent. The elder Linnaeus is said to have owed him a great part of his knowledge of American flora, and the Stockholm Academy elected him a member in recognition of his services to that institution, while other scientists joined in calling him "the patriarch of botanists of the New World."

The commercial use of plants as well as the medicinal was of interest to Mutis. In Mariquita he tried to acclimatize various trees and plants from distant regions, especially several cinnamon trees which he and the Archbishop-Viceroy Caballero y Góngora hoped to make the basis of a thriving industry. One of his most important botanical discoveries was that of the existence of quinine trees in the neighborhood of Bogota, theretofore known to flourish only in Ecuador.