IGO FORMICID^ — ANTS. 



or very fine slices of fat pork.^ And in the province of 

 Michuacan, Mexico, is a singular species of Ant, which 

 carries on its abdomen "a little bagful of a sweet substance, 

 of which the children are very fond : the Mexicans suppose 

 this to be a kind of honey collected by the insect; but 

 Clavigero thinks it rather its eggs."^ 



Piso, De Laet, Marcgrave, and other writers mention 

 their being an article of food in different parts of South 

 America. Piso speaks of yellow Ants called Cupia inhab- 

 iting Brazil, the abdomen of which many used for food, as 

 well as a large species under the name of Tama-joura: 

 "Alia prffiterea datur grandis species Tama-ioura dicta 

 digiti articulura ad^equans. Quarum etiam clunes dessicantur 

 et friguntur pro bono alimento."^ Says De Laet : "Deuique 

 formicffi hie visuntur grandissimse, quas indigenas vulgo 

 comedunt ; et in foris venales habent."* And again : " For- 

 micis vescebantur, easquag studiose ad victum educabant."^ 

 Lucas Fernandes Piedrahita, in his Hi^toria General de 

 las Conquistas del Nuevo Regno de Grranada, states that 

 cakes of Cazave and Ants were eaten in that country: 

 "Al tiempo de tostarlas para este efecto, dan el mismo olor 

 que los quesillos, que se labran para comer asados.'"^ Her- 

 rera says, the natives of New Granada made their main food 

 of Ants, which they kept and reared in their yards.'^ Sloane 

 confirms this, and says they are publicly sold in the markets.^ 

 Abbeville de Noromba tells us these great Ants are fricasseed.* 

 Schomburgk, in his journey to the sources of the Essequibo, 

 one evening saw all the boys of a village out shouting and 

 chasing with sticks and palm leaves a large species of winged 

 Ant, which they collected in great numbers in their cala- 

 bashes for food. When roasted or boiled, he says, the na- ] 

 tives considered these insects a great delicacy. ^° Humboldt • 

 informs us that Ants are eaten by the Marivatanos and : 

 Margueritares, mixed with resin for sauce.^^ 



1 The Mirror, xxxi. 342. 



2 Smith's Nature and Art, xii. 197. 



3 Hist. Nat., i. 9, and v. 291. Cf. Sloane, Hist, of Jam , ii. 221. 

 * Amer. Utriusq. Hesc, p. 333. 5 Jbid., p. 379. 

 6 Southey's Com. Place Book, 3d S. p. 346-7. 



T Herrera, vi. 5, 6. 



8 Hist, of Jam., ii. 221. 9 Quoted, Ibid. 



10 Journ. of Geoff. Soc, 1841, x. 175. 



11 Quot. by K. and S. Introd., i. 309. 



