A NATURALIST IN BRAZIL 



and dried and returned to its nest, a group of astonished soldiers 

 immediately surrounded it, but they took care not to touch the 

 strange-smelling creature. Suddenly one ran back into the nest; 

 apparently it wished to report the presence of the stranger, and ask 

 for instructions. Shortly afterwards a worker appeared, felt the 

 supposed stranger with its antennae, convinced itself that the in- 

 truder had not the smell which it was a point of honour for any 

 inmate of that nest to emit, bit its head, and ran off. Possibly it 

 reported the case, and some other worker thought the punishment 

 insufficient ; at all events, a second worker appeared, bit the unfor- 

 tunate insect's head off, turned round, and deposited its dung on 

 the corpse, as a sign that the foreign body, having been suitably 

 disposed of, might now be immured. 



But there are also alien inhabitants of the termitary. As I have 

 already related, I found a termites' nest enclosed in a nest of Sauvas, 

 and in the termites' nest were the galleries of the thieving Solenopses. 

 These thieving ants are everywhere frequent in termitaries, and 

 they are dangerous guests, for ever slipping out of their narrow 

 galleries, in which they are safe, and stealing whatever they please. 

 Very often there are several species of such ants in a single termitary, 

 indeed, six different species of ants have been found in one and the 

 same nest, but a few of these lived entirely to themselves, so that a 

 relation of mutual tolerance had developed. 



One species of termite, which builds nests of earth, seems 

 actually to be on friendly terms with a certain species of ant, an 

 attitude which is apparently based on the exchange of mutual 

 benefits, for the ant finds a convenient dwelling provided in the 

 nest built by the termites, and valiantly protects not only the nest, 

 but its hosts, against the intrusion of other ants. For the ants are 

 wellnigh the most terrible of all the termites' enemies, which 

 include anteaters, armadillos, woodpeckers and other birds, lizards, 

 toads, wasps, and predatory beetles. The Driver Ants will clear out 

 a termitary to the last egg, and during their wedding-journey the 

 nuptial pairs of termites are only too often the prey of ants, from 

 which nothing can successfully hide. Indeed, many ants wait at the 

 exits of the termitary at the season when the sexual forms fly from 

 the nest, seizing and tearing to pieces every winged termite the 

 moment it shows its head. The stingless bees, on the other hand, 

 which are given to invading the nests of the arboreal termites, 



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