id to be best represented, and of the
_Lepidoptera_ the prevalent genera are--_Ageronia, Papilio, Heliconia,
Sphinx_ and _Bombyx_. There are five species of bees, and the European
honey-bee, known as _aveja de Castilla_ or "bee of Castile," has been
naturalized. Ants are common, and may sometimes be seen marching in a
column 3 or 4 m. long. The mosquito, wood-tick, flea and locust are
unfortunately no less plentiful in certain districts, but their
distribution varies greatly, the mosquito being almost unknown in
parts of Honduras. A curious species of butterfly is the _Timetes
Chiron,_ which migrates in countless multitudes from the forests of
Honduras to the Mosquito Coast, but is never known to return.

_Flora_.--The flora of Central America ranges from the alpine to the
tropical, with the transition from one climatic zone to another.
Although its forest growths are, on the whole, inferior in size to
those of corresponding latitudes in the eastern hemisphere, it is
unsurpassed for beauty, luxuriance and variety. In the volcanic
districts, the soil is extremely fertile, yielding, where cultivated
and irrigated, magnificent crops of sugar, cotton, rice, tobacco,
coffee, cocoa and maize. Indigo is produced in small quantities; sugar
yields two or three crops, and maize as many as four, this cereal
supplying a chief staple of food. Plantains, bananas, beans, tomatoes,
yams, arrowroot, pine-apples, guavas, citrons and many other tropical
fruits are also cultivated, while the extensive primeval forests
abound in mahogany, cedars, rosewood, ironwood, rubber, gum copal,
vanilla, sarsaparilla, logwood and many other dye-woods, medicinal
plants, and valuable timbers. Conspicuous amongst the forest trees are
the giant ceiba, or pyramidal bombax, and the splendid Coyal palm
(_Cocos butyracea,_ L.), with feathery leaves 15 to 20 ft. long,
golden flowers 3 ft. high, and a sap which when fermented produces the
intoxicating _chicha_ or _vino de Coyol._ In Guatemala occurs the
remarkable _Herrania purpurea,_ a "Chocolate tree," whose seeds yield
a finer flavoured chocolate than the cocoa itself. The same country is
famous for its magnificent orchids, huge arborescent thistles, and a
remarkable plant called by the Spaniards _Flor de la Calentura_,
"fever flower," from the heat which it is said to emit at the moment
of fertilization. Salvador produces an abundance of m