670 



with which we had become acquainted at the 

 Great Cataracts, and which is employed to stop 

 bleeding. This touchwood, which might less 

 improperly be called ants nests, is much sought 

 for in a region, the character of the inhabitants 

 of which is so little pacific. A new species of ant, 

 of a fine emerald green (formic^ spinicolUs 5 *), 

 collects for it's habitation a cotton down, of a yel- 

 lowish brown colour, and very soft to the touch, 

 from the leaves of a melastomacea-f\ I have no 

 doubt, that the yesca or touchwood of ants of the 

 Upper Oroonoko (the animal is found, we were 

 assured, only South of Atures) will one day 

 become an article of trade. This substance is 

 very superior to the ants nests of Cayenne, which 

 are employed in the hospitals of Europe, but 

 can rarely be procured. 



On the 7th of June we quitted with regret 

 father Ramon Bueno. Among the ten mission- 

 aries, whom we had found in different parts of 

 the vast extent of Guyana, he alone appeared to 

 me to be attentive to all that regarded the na- 

 tives. He hoped to return in a short time to 

 Madrid, where he intended to publish the result 



* Puji in Guaraken ; madi in Equinabi. Sec the note 

 which I added to the description of the formica spinicollis 

 given by Mr. Latreille, in my Obs. de Zoologie, vol. ii, p. 101, 

 PI. xxxviii, fig. 6. 



t The leaves of the guari tree, are covered on the lower 

 surface with a reddish down. 



