ECITONS. 65 



ants are blind. They emerge, however, principally by 

 night, and like some of the blind hunting ants of 

 Brazil (Eciton vastator and E. erratica), well described 

 by Bates,' prefer to move under covered galleries, which 

 they construct rapidly as they advance. ' The column 

 of foragers pushes forward step by step, under the 

 protection of these covered passages, through the 

 thickets, and on reaching a rotting log, or other 

 promising hunting ground, pour into the crevices in 

 search of booty.' 



The marauding troops of Ecitons may, in some 

 cases, be described as armies. ' Wherever they move,' 

 says Bates,^ ' the whole animal world is set in commo- 

 tion, and every creature tries to get out of their way. 

 But it is especially the various tribes of wingless insects 

 that have cause for fear, such as heavy-bodied spiders, 

 ants of other species, maggots, caterpillars, larvse of 

 cockroaches, and so forth, all of which live under fallen 

 leaves or in decaying wood. The Ecitons do not mount 

 very high on trees, and therefore the nestlings of birds 

 are not much incommoded by them. The mode of 

 operation of these armies, which I ascertained, only 

 after long-continued observation, is as follows : The 

 main column, from four to six deep, moves forward in 

 a given direction, clearing the ground of all animal 

 matter dead or alive, and throwing off, here and there, 

 a thinner column to forage for a short time on the 



' The Naturalist on the River Amazon, vol. ii. p. 364. 

 « Ibid., p. 358. 



F 



