XVII 



THE COMMUNITY OF THE ANTS 



VV HEREVER one goes in Brazil, in the South, or the North, or 

 the interior of the country, one very soon becomes conscious — 

 unless one's receptivity to impressions has been destroyed by the 

 hurrying life of the cities — of the activities of the Leafcutting Ants 

 or Sauvas. Particularly on dry, sandy soil, like that of the Sertao, 

 one encounters them at every step. 



On my very first day in Brazil I encountered the Sauvas on the 

 paths and in the grass at Olinda. Even more striking was their 

 behaviour in the park of Dois Irmaos, outside Recife, which merges 

 into the forest, and contains one of the city's reservoirs. I was 

 walking along the narrow, sandy 

 dam; on the left lay the waters 

 of the great reservoir, blue in the 

 sunhght, and on my right the 

 trunks of the forest trees gleamed 

 white amidst the dark green, 

 glittering foliage. Silent and rigid, __^^-_v^^^®^>^ ^^^^P^^^0^^ 



a black Pipra, with blood-red head, " "* '^""^ "^^ ■ 



was sitting in a bush. Fig. 26.— Leafcutting Ants or Sauvas, 



But a procession was passing carrying several fragments of leaves, 



along the SunUt path; a long accompanied by their Soldiers 



, . p . /T- ^\ (natural size) 



chain 01 ants was passmg (rig. 20). 



These yellow insects one and all bore scraps of leaves in their 

 mandibles ; for the most part these fragments were larger than the 

 ants themselves, so that at a cursory glance they looked like green 

 parasols with six legs, staggering and stumbUng along the path. 



Many of these insects appeared to be collapsing under a too lofty 

 parasol, but indefatigably they struggled on under their burdens, 

 with a persistence which no obstacles dismayed. 



I followed the procession, and soon came to a place where the 

 wanderers turned aside into some short grass, and made for a low, 

 sandy knoll, in which a hole yawned. One by one I watched them 

 disappear into the dark interior of this hole. I pushed the point of 

 my umbrella a httle way into the opening; the startled bearers 

 flinched aside, and suddenly some larger ants ran out and rushed 

 at my umbrella, their powerful pincers wide open; in a moment 



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