280 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



A more amusing incident followed. A larger boy asked which 

 made the best medicine, and I begged Senora Caldero to explain 

 that the bees were for study. ''How can you explain that to such 

 ignorance," she asked, but I begged her to try, and the boy said 

 that he understood, but a few minutes later he was telling a young 

 girl that the little black bees were for pains in the stomach — the 

 red ones for pains in the legs. When reproached, he excused him- 

 self by saying : "The other is much too difficult for a girl to know." 

 The inferiority of woman serves its purpose the world over. 



My adventures did not end with the day, for in the middle 

 of the night I was awakened by a great ringing of bells, and the 

 light from a burning house lighted my room. ''Get up ! Get 

 up !" my hostess called, "there is a terrible fire. Do not try to 

 save anything but come quickly." Fortunately I had lain down 

 with my clothes on, so that I was ready in a minute, carrying with 

 me my precious box of bees. I found my hostess and her children 

 wrapped in blankets, and we all hurried out into the street. The 

 fire was only a few doors from our house, and with a brisk wind 

 blowing it looked as though nothing could save any house in the 

 village. Some way in the crowd I was separated from Senora 

 Caldero and her family, and I found myself in the middle of the 

 road surrounded by people wailing and crying to the saints. It 

 was a weird moment ! The men had formed a chain from the 

 fountain and passed water in every sort of jar and pan, but they 

 worked effectively, and I soon saw that the fire would be conquered. 

 I thought I would be safer in the house, for I did not like being in 

 the midst of that excited crowd, so I crept back into the dark 

 house, still holding jealously my little box of bees. 



It was not long before my host came up from the office where 

 he slept, and the family was brought home. There was much 

 embracing and much excited talk, and more wine and whiskey 

 offered to everyone in the good Latin-Amsrican fashion, and the 

 daylight was almost upon us before the village became quiet again. 



The next morning a horse and a moso were ordered for seven 

 o'clock, and came at eight, the usual custom of the country. Until 

 two o'clock I rode along the river collecting here and there, and 

 enjoying the bright-hued birds, and the beautiful plants. Two 

 plants stand out in the memory of that forenoon; Antigonon 

 guatemalense Meissn., a vine with great racemes of most exquisite 

 pink flowers; the other {Adenocalymna macrocarpum Donn. Smith?)* 

 a bush with great violet-purple bells, like a glorified pentstemon, 



*Capt. Donnell Smith wrote that he was not quite sure of the species of 

 Adenocalymna. More material is needed. The plant belongs to the Bignoniaceœ. 



