202 CENTRAL AMERICA. 



brushed off or killed ; and they emit, when 

 crushed, a most fragrant smell. 



The wasp is very different from the Euro- 

 pean wasp, being two or three times the 

 length, and each variety of different colours, 

 blue, purple, and dark red being the most 

 common. They generally build their nests 

 curiously suspended from the bough of a tree, 

 and are very often found in the lime or lemon- 

 trees that mostly grow by the banks of 

 rivers.* There are some, however, that 

 build their nests of clay, plastered against the 

 side of a tree or in a fork of the branches, 

 leaving an entrance near the bottom : — these 

 nests must be well made, since the heavy 

 tropical rains never wash them away, owing, 

 most likely, to the clay being tempered with 

 some strong glutinous substance. Those 

 suspended from the boughs of trees hang 

 down like a large oblong bag, and seem to be 

 made fast to the branch by divers stringy- 

 looking fibres. It is dangerous to disturb 

 them, as they sally forth, often without provo- 

 cation, and attack furiously both man and 



* Though I have found hundreds of wild lime-trees 

 by the rivers, bearing the most beautiful fruit, I have 

 never seen a single wild orange-tree ; and those that 

 are cultivated near the towns are more peel than fruit. 



