lesBl LOOMIS: BARRO COLORADO t27

Busman'sHoliday on a Tropicallsland -- BarroColorado H. F. Loours it As we came down the jungle trail to land. Sometime after this happened Colorado the clearing in the late a{ternoon a band was give,nthe name of Barro o{ howling monkeys was feeding in the in re{erenie to the red clay soil compos' top o{ the huge cuipo tree growing at ine most of it. con- the edge of the clearing near the boat Whett the needarose for an easily research landing. Iy'e had come to Barro CoIo- trolled and accessiblewildlife efforts rado Island in the Canal Zone area in the American tropics, the Dr' that March morning for a week's staY of many scientists, particularly Zetek, and almost the first sound that greeted Thomas Barbour and Mr. James o{ the us was the astonishing howls of these resulted in having the Governor Colorado great monkeys perhaps a quarter oJ a Canal Zone designate Barro 1923' Since ;ile away. Now all were quiet as theY Island a wildlife preservein biologi- browsed on the lea{ buds sweliing on then it has beenmaintained as a nearly a natural the bare limbs nearly opposite our van- cal study area in as 1946 has tage point of the dining hall porch and state as possible, and from hardly more than a hundred feet {rom been administered by the Smithsonian scientistsob- us. It was unbelievablethat theseshaggy Institution through which and its black animals, ,appearingalmost as big tain permissionto use the island in natu- as humans, could move about so freely facilities for their investigations there is on slender branches that sagged peri' ral history subjects. Probably in tropical lously but never broke beneath their no area of like size or larger phases of weight. America wherein the various are io Here a mother, with newborn babY the endemic plants and animals many publica- clinging to her, hung head down by her well known and have so tail while snatching buds with either tions devotedto them. hand, taking a bite and letting the rest The island can be reachedby railroad isth- fall. Other mothers had older babies, and launch from either side o{ the one large enough to make sallies of his mus in about 90 minutes. It is very ir' rises own but holding to his mother when she regularly circular in outline; changedbranches. The old males, larg- sharply from the shore to the highest 430 feet est of the band, looked p,articularlyfear- point near the center, about three some but we watched them all with fas- above the lake; is aPproximately 4,000 cination until the light began to fade miles across and contains nearly jungle which the and they moved into the forest for the acres covered by of it can- night. secondgrowth is old enoughthat The island we were on was once a not readily be distinguished from the tremendous hill in the lower Chagres virgin forest. jungle o{ten a Valley but, with the building of the Beneath the canoPy, Panama Can'aland the damming of t]le hundred and fifty {eet or more above well- ChagresRiver, the rising waters of Ga' one's head, run some 25 miles of part tun Lake, which was thus {ormed, sur- marked trails by which nearly every dozen rounded and isolated it from the main- of the island, including over a PRINCIPES [Vol. 2 points on the shore,may be reached.The of palm leavesin the forest where their names of the trails read like a roster of wilder relatives lived. naturalists and indicate a few of the fa- Becausethe writer has been interested mous people who have tramped along for many years in both millipeds, com- them. Commemoratedin this fashion are monly known as o'thousand-legged Allison V. Armour, Thomas Barbour, worms", and palms, our visit to Barro Frank M. Chapman, , Colorado had a two-fold purpose in ad- Barbour Lathrop, Raymond Shannon, dition to celebratinehis retirement from Paul Standley,, years of plant wo-rk with the Federal JamesZetek, and a number of others. Government. First was the hope of col- The only permanent habitations on lecting more specimensof a tiny pill-like the island are those of the Resident milliped of which a single female, Naturalist and the staff of laborers niho thought to representan undescribedspe- act as guides, boatmen and woodsmen cies, genus and family, was found there in addition to maintaining the grounds, in 1923. Our second objective was to laboratories.andquarters. A dormitory- gather fresh seedsof its palms for plant- dining hall and severalsmall cabins pro- ing in as only a few of them had vide living facilities for visiting workers been introduced there. while a well equipped laboratory and For an entire rveekalmost every wak- library also are available. The buildings ing moment was spent on or near the are concentratedin a small clearing on trails searching for palms or millipeds the northeast shore overlookine the or sitting silently absorbing the sights canal; the principal ones being on the and sounds of the unspoiled jungle. shoulder of a ridge more than a hundred Among our first impressions were the feet.abovethe lake and reachedby stairs height of the trees about us, their diver- beginning at the boat landing. sity and the varied plant life they sup- Our own cabin, a few stepsbelow the ported on roots, trunks and branches. dining hall, was in itself a tropical ex- While many of the smaller plants were periment as its woodwork and com- unknown, a surprising number were fa- pressed wallboards had been impreg- miliar as the house and patio decora- nated with a chemical mixture to repel tions of the north,'in but with what a dif- termites, the worst enemies of wooden ference! Here their natural home buildings and furniture in the tropics. grew bromeliads, monsteras, ant-hu- A note on the do,ornamed the compound riums, philodendrons and other aroids and warned against removing or replac- of a lushnessand size not equalled in ing any part of the building or otherwise cultivation. Another of the interesting irrterfering with the test without special and attractive plants frequently seen al- permission. most appressedto the ground had its iris-like As our bags were brought into the leavesspread in a single plane, the whole plant resembling cabin, a family of bats under the eaves, a fan palm leaf, probably accounting for its com- and clinging to the screen ventilator at mon name oI palmita, A second name the top of the wall, was disturbed and given us, and one we liked was mano de fluttered further down the roof with Dios - God's hand. Botanically the much squeaking. They never became plant is called Xiphid,iurn caeruleum. accustomed to our presence but still The vines, usually referred to as could not bring themselvesto give up lianas, hanging lea{less or nearly so this cool dry shelter for the undersides {rom great heights were a novel sight, r9sBl LOOMIS: BARRO COLORADO r29 especially one belonging to the genus the tops of smooth, relatively slender Bauhilia that was broad and flat, curi- trunks beginning eight or ten feet above ously bent and twisted and perforated the ground {rom supporting cones of with holes of different sizes. Except for rigidly str,aightspiny roots. This palm these holes it reminded one of the rib' is scatteredthroughout the woods, seem' bon candieswe found in our Christmas ingly not favoring damp locations, al- stockings as children. though the curious root systemhas been Everywhere we looked were literally thought an adaptationto allow growth in scores of plant species. A botanist suchplaces. The numerousbro'ad pinnae would have little trouble in counting with irregular tips project from the over a hundred kinds within a radius of rachis at several angles and are a rich a few rods if he could see and include dark green. The finest individual of this the epiphytes on the trees above him. palm we saw was on the Shannon Trail Most of these air plants are invisible in where also was found the largest Geo- the crown of leaves of the forest giants noma decurrens,the beautiful Iittle deep but fallen branches bring down a sam- shade speciesseldom exceedingsix feet pling of these upperstory treasuresand in height with all leaf pinnae completely rnake one envious o{ the birds and unitedto form a continuousblade nearly several times as long, monkeys that Pass so freelY among a foot wide and arch- them. deeply cleft at tip and gracefully And the palms! Members of this irg. {amily seemedmore numerous than of The morning spent on this trail was any other single family and several otherwise noteworthy. It showed that" kinds usually were to be seenby looking our choice o{ palms and millipeds fdr in any direction, beginning 'astiny seed- collectionwas a happy one, as Mrs' Loo- lings and progressing through various mis discovered,in a decaying palm in- agesand sizesto the imposing Scheelea florescenceon the ground, the only two zinensis, with clean two'foot-thick shafts specimensof the much desiredpill milli- rising thirty or more feet to the begin- ped we found on our visit. Shortly after ning of the leaf crown which adds at this find we spotted a band of white' least as much again to the height of the collared peccaries,or wild hogs, rooting palm. From the crowns of these palms, along the opposite side of a ravine. We which also gave footholds to ferns, vines watched them until they moved out of and other small ptrants, hung great sight while several of the marvelously clusters of tightly packed egg-shaped iridescent blue morpho butterflie's tit- fruits; those of the ripe clusters being tuped along in apparently aimlessflight dull orange in color. Not only is this below us. As we came b'ackup the trail the largestpalm of Barro'Coloradobut the treetops were alive with white-faced also in Panama. It was describedby L. monkeys objecting to our presenceby H. Baileyin GentesHerbarum 3:32-116, shaking the branches and breaking 1933,wherein were listed 16 other palms others to drop on us, but for sanitary native on the island, the number not reasonswe were too smart to get directly having been increased in the last 25 beneat} them. When they finally swung years. off we continued on our way. The most striking of the island palms, Another handsomepalm we saw fre' however, is Socratead,urissima, the stilt quently, and generally growing in palm, of which mature specimensrear clumps o{ a dozen or more smooth their heads 70 or 80 feet in the air at slender ringed trunks, was Oenocarpus 130 PRINCIPES [Vol. 2

Fig. 61. Typical root system of large stilt Fig. 62. An unusually large plant oI Ceonoma palm (Socralea d,urissima). Even small seed. decu,rrens with young stilt palm (.socratea lings of this palm have rhe trunk supported durissima\ behind it. above the ground on a similarly formed cone of roots.

puno.manus,the largest specimensreach- Standleyanum rising straight and tall ing a height of 70 feet. The inflorescen- on a six-inch-thick trunk ringed by ces, resembling the modern pony-tail broad naked leaf scars but with the in- hair-do, are cream-coloredat firs't but tervals betweenthem closely beset with turn lo burnt orange as they grow older deflexed double-edgedspines to eight and when m,aturebear nearly globular inches long. The leaves, petioles and black fruits larger than marbles. The {lower spathes also are protected by freshly expanded new leaves of the closelyplaced spines but still we thought young I plants in the understory have a the palm a thing of beauty, especially t beautiful autumn coloring of light red- when the denselyclustered fruits on the dish brown which presents a striking long drooping inflorescencesh,ad turned note in an otherwisesreen world. from greento bright orangeat maturity. Conspicuous throughout the woods Walking along any of the trails we was the viciously spiny Astrocaryum were constantly halting to look at smal- le58l LOOMIS: BARRO COLORADO 131

Fig. 63. Geonorn.aprocum"bens, A spicate in- Fig. 64. Synechanthus Warscewiczianzs. Ex- florescence reaches the top o{ the picture just tremely variable in leaf character as shown by left of center. palm the writer touches and another far left which have groups of united pinnae in con- trast to that immediately behind the writer and another at rieht.

ler palms such as the quite similar severalother speciesit was the only one Chamaedorea W end,Iandiam and Syne- we found in fruit. chantltus Warscewiczianus that were Largest of the geonomas,G. bineruia, easily distinguished when old or new is not met with too commonly but it is inflorescences could be found. Seldom well worth the search to stand beneath were we where one or several of the the evenly spaced pinnae of its curving spiny, cluster-stemmed bactrids could fronds fifteen or more feet above one's not be seen and we were happy that head. It differs further from the other previous collectors had prepared the spe- two specieson the island by having a cimens from which they had been identi- large much branched infloresencehang- fied. Bactris coloniata, with canelike ing below the leavesinstead of a simple stems uidely separated on underground ;lender spike projecting upward above runners, is said to be the most cornmon them. palm on the island and although we saw Dr. Bailey had reported the American t32 PRINCIPES [Vol. 2 oil palm, Corozo oleifera, as growing limb; a hawk-eaglepreening on a dead along the shore of Barro Colorado but stub; watched parrots and parakeetsin we did not find any on the short walks pairs or flocks chopping the air with we took there. Instead, the only speci' rapid wing beats while keeping uP a men seenwas in a swampy spot near the constant chatter: and marvelled at the highest point of the island and, while beautiful colors of the toucans hopping the palm had the typical reclining trunk, about in the upmost branchesor in lilt- it bore neither flowers ndr fruit. We ing flight when they appeared to be "pushihg passedthis p,almas we followed the Ar- a banana" as one of our mour Trail to view the largest of the friends said in referring to their over- island's trees, a BornbacopsisFend,leri sized bills. Here also, silhouetted estimatedto be nearly 200 feet tall with against the sky on the ridge to our left, a huge buttressroots. A related giant spe- group of several leafy stems of the cies seen on various trails was Bombax climbing palm, a speciesoI Desrnoncus Barrigott.,lacking buttressesbut with a not yet accurately determined, swayed distinct swelling of the trunk a little above the treetops with the backwardly abovethe roots, which accounted{or the spined prolongations of the leaf rachis similar specifie and common name, ready to fasten upon ,any branch they meaning big-bellied. The bark o,f the touched. We had found few of these trunk is quite bright green and surpris- palms in our wanderings but their very ingly smooth for so large a tree. slender stemscould easily be overlooked Along some of the trails the tall, in the welter of trailside vegetation. single-trunked fan palm, Cryosophila Still" two of those we saw had stemsthat jungle Warscewiczii, was met with. It is the reached further above the floor only fan-leaved palm of the island or, than the tallest of other palms and their of the for that matter, of the Canal Zone and tops were hidden in the crowns is further noteworthy for having spine- supporting trees. like roots or specialized projections A week in such a storehouseof in- growing abundantly {rom the trunk, teresting plants and animals speeds all those near the base of the stem being too quickly and before we realizedit the longest and usually with supplementary morning of our departure was upon us. branches. Ripe fruit the size of marbles The family of bats, returned {rom a are white. night's foraging, squeakedand changed One of the pleasantesttimes on Barro position as our cases,heavier now with Colorado comesafter a day on the trails our collections, were carried from the when, following an early dinner, every- cabin and stowed aboard the launch. As one gatherson the terr,acein front of the we pulled away from the dock, backward dining hall to discussthe day's finds and looks at the clearing and buildings left adventures and, with binoculars and us with regrets but happy memories telescopepoised, to watch the evening also; and the rapidity with which plants flight of birds, ships of the world pass- grow in the tropics was manifest when ing by in the canal or to gaze into the we saw that the cuipo tree that had been mysteriesof the treetops on the hillsides barren a week before when the howling at either hand. Thus we saw a five'{oot- monkeys feasted in it now was fully Iong bright green iguanailying along a decked in a new season'sfoliage,