ANTS AND SOME OTHER INSECTS. 47 



served, for the purpose of illustrating the capacity of the topo- 

 chemical olfactory sense. 



The American genus Eciton comprises predatory ants that 

 build temporary nests from which they undertake expeditions for 

 the purpose of preying on all kinds of insects. The Ecitons follow 

 one another in files, like geese, and are very quick to detect new 

 hunting grounds. As "ants of visitation," like the Africo-Indian 

 species of Dorylus, they often take possession of human dwellings, 

 ferret about in all the crevices of the walls and rooms for spiders, 

 roaches, mice, and even rats, attack and tear to pieces all such 

 vermin in the course of a few hours and then carry the booty home. 

 They can convert a mouse into a clean skeleton. They also attack 

 other ants and plunder their nests. 



Now all the workers of the African species of Dorylus and of 

 many of the species of Eciton are totally blind, so that they must 

 orient themselves exclusively by means of their antennal sense. 



In 1899 at Faisons, North Carolina, I was fortunate enough to 

 find a temporary nest of the totally blind little Eciton carolinense in 

 a rotten log. I placed the ants in a bag and made them the sub- 

 ject of some observations. The Eciton workers carry their elon- 

 gate larvae in their jaws and extending back between their legs in 

 such a position that the antennas have full play in front. 



Their ability to follow one another and to find their way about 

 rapidly and unanimously in new territory without a single ant go- 

 ing astray, is incredible. I threw a handful of Ecitons with their 

 young into a strange garden in Washington, i. e., after a long rail- 

 way journey and far away from their nest. Without losing a mo- 

 ment's time, the little animals began to form in files which were 

 fully organised in five minutes. Tapping the ground continually 

 with their antennae, they took up their larvae and moved away in 

 order, reconnoitering the territory in all directions. Not a pebble, 

 not a crevice, not a plant was left unnoticed or overlooked. The 

 place best suited for concealing their young was very soon found, 

 whereas most of our European ants under such conditions, i. e., in 

 a completely unknown locality, would probably have consumed at 

 least an hour in accomplishing the same result. The order and 



