-55 6 ANTS. 



joint in the pedicel like the Old World Horylns. Eciton has a much 

 wider di.strihution, ranging from North Carolina and Colorado to 

 Patagonia, but the largc-t and most numerous species are found only 

 within the tropics. According to von Ihering (1894) the prominent 

 species do not extend southward beyond the Cebus-line in Brazil, and 

 in Mexico they probably cease with the northern limit of the terra 

 calicntc on the eastern coast. No species are known from the West 

 Indies. 



Observations on the habits of Eciton are more numerous than those 

 on Dor\<lns. They have been made in Brazil by Lund (1831), \Y. 

 Miiller (1886), Hetchko, Bates (1892) and von Ihering (1894), in 

 Trinidad by Urich (i893-V)4), in Guiana by Bar, in Colombia by Forel 

 ( igoi/O, in Nicaragua by Belt ( 1874), in Me-xico by Sumichrast ( 1868 ) 

 and myself (19010), in North Carolina by Schmitt and Forel (1899^), 

 in Texas, New Mexico and Colorado by Long and myself ( 19000, 

 1901). All residents in the American tropics are familiar with these 

 ants, which are variously designated as " padicours," " tuocas," " tepe- 

 guas," " soldados " army, foraging, legionary, or visiting ants. Their 

 habits are similar to those of Dorylus and sEnictns, but there are inter- 

 esting differences among the various species. Some, like the widely dis- 

 tributed, eyeless E. ccccuni, are completely hypogseic, or subterranean, 

 others like E. crassicorne, are subhypogaeic, or creep along under cover 

 of the dead leaves and other vegetable detritus on the surface of the soil. 

 Most species, however, carry out their expeditions in full view and often 

 exposed to the sunlight (E. prccdator, Iiainatuiu, pilosnin, schmitti, etc.). 

 Bates has described differences in the methods of making forays in the 

 various Brazilian species, and some of these same species have been 

 studied by Belt. His description of a foray of E. prccdator may be re- 

 garded as typical of all the epigxic forms: " One of the smaller species 

 (Eciton prccdator) used occasionally to visit our house, swarm over 

 the floors and walls, searching every cranny, and driving out the cock- 

 roaches and spiders, many of which were caught, pulled, or bitten to 

 pieces and carried off. ... I saw many large armies of this, or a 

 closely allied species, in the forest. My attention was generally first 

 called to them by the twittering of some small birds, belonging to 

 several different species, that followed the ants in the woods. On 

 approaching to ascertain the cause of the disturbance, a dense body 

 of the ants, three or four yards wide, and so numerous as to blacken 

 the ground, would be seen moving rapidly in one direction, examining 

 every cranny, and underneath every fallen leaf. On the flanks, and 

 in advance of the main body, smaller columns would be pushed out. 

 These smaller columns would generally first flush the cockroaches, 



