104 A NATURALIST ON THE "CHALLENGER." 



smelling substance, supposed to act as a sexual attraction. The 

 bat was resting on a bare tree-trunk, asleep, the dense forest 

 growth overhead making this exposed situation quite dark 

 enough for it. I caught it with a butterfly net. 



On our way back to the farm, we watched some ants 

 carrying off bits of cassava leaves to their holes. One cannot 

 walk anywhere in the neighbourhood of Bahia without seeing 

 these Leaf-cutting Ants (CEcodoma) at work. Their habits have 

 been described by many observers, and recently by Mr. Belt * at 

 great length. 



One soldier-ant was carrying a piece of young cassava root, two 

 inches in length. It held the stick by one end thrown over its 

 back, but not touching it, the other end projecting far behind the 

 insect. There was just a balance. The slightest extra weight on 

 the hinder tip of the stick would have upset the bearer back- 

 wards. The ant staggered from side to side under its burden, 

 like a heavily-laden porter, and got along very slowly. 



I pulled the burden away and then put it back again. The 

 ant struggled a long while to get it back into its old position, 

 but could not. Then it tried to balance it crossways by the 

 middle, but one end always tilted up, and the other stuck against 

 the ground. So at last the ant cut the stick in two, and carried 

 off one half, a worker hoisting the other. The further road to 

 St. Amaro lay through sugar estates all the way. I left 

 St. Amaro early next morning by steamer, and reached Bahia at 

 10 A.M. 



Bahia. — On the quay I bought a living full-grown Three- 

 toed Sloth {Bradypus tridactylus) from a countryman for two 

 shillings. We kept the animal alive in our work-room for some 

 days, where it hung on to the book shelves and bottle racks, 

 and crawled about. As I could not get it to feed, I had to 

 kill it. 



The beast was the most inane-looking animal I ever saw, and 

 never attempted to bite or scratch ; none of us could look at its 

 face without laughing. It merely hung tight on to anything 

 within reach. It showed, however, one sign of intelligence. 



* " The Naturalist in Nicaragua," by Thos. Belt, p. 71, et seq. 

 London, John Murray, 1874. 



