24 BRITISH HONDURAS. 



The leaf -cutting ant, or " wevey " ((Ecodoma), is a familiar 

 object in the forests, where its crowded and well-worn paths 

 cross and recross in all directions. This ant, so graphically 

 described by Mr. Belt, is a pest of no mean importance in the 

 colony, since, if not checked, it will soon destroy a plantation of 

 coffee, cacao, orange, or indeed anything in its vicinity. By its 

 ceaseless attacks upon the leaves of yams and fruit-trees, the 

 natives are often debarred from extending their small plots of 

 garden ground ; but as shown, in more than one instance, its 

 ravages are easily checked if the nest is discovered and treated 

 either with boiling water, a solution of carbolic acid, or anything 

 of a virulent nature. The carbolic^ acid in the proportion of one 

 pint to four buckets of water, after being well stirred, should be 

 poured down the burrows. Within a short time the nest is 

 entirely abandoned, and if the ants are not. altogether destroyed, 

 they move away in a wholesale migration to a considerable 

 distance, and seldom revisit the spot again. 



Having thus far given a general sketch and description of 

 the colony, I will now proceed to give an. account of the places 

 visited by me, and of the chief points, connected .with the 

 economic plants and resources of the country, which came under 

 notice. 



