26 A NATURALIST IN MEXICO. 



of small size, containing but several hundred inhabitants. 

 We succeeded in hiring a deserted hut, for the sum of one 

 dollar a day, in which we swung our hammocks, and settled 

 down for a few days' collecting. Our meals were taken in 

 a grocery-store, and consisted of chocolate, black-beans 

 (^frijolas), tortillas, and beef. 



Next morning we arose with the sun, shouldered our 

 guns, and walked down a road which ran east from the vil- 

 lage Bird-life was here quite abundant, and we added 

 largely to our collections. Among the insects we were 

 especially interested in the CEcodoma, or leaf-cutting ant. 

 This ant was seen everywhere about the suburbs, marchirg to 

 and fro in broad columns. The habit of this ant of clip- 

 ping and carrying away immense quantities of leaves has 

 long been recorded in books of natural history. When em- 

 plo^'Cd on this work, their processions look like a multitude 

 of animated leaves on the march. In the course of my col- 

 lecting, I had plenty of opportunities for observing them at 

 work. They mount the trees in multitudes, the individuals 

 being all workers. Each one places itself on the surface of 

 a leaf, and cuts with its sharp, scissor-like jaws a nearly 

 semi-circular incision on the upper side; it then takes the 

 edge between its jaws, and by a sharp jerk detaches the 

 piece. Sometimes they let the leaf drop to the ground, 

 where a little heap accumulates, until carried off by another 

 army of workers; but generally, each marches off with the 

 piece it has operated upon, and all take the same road to 

 their colony. It was a most interesting sight to see the 

 vast host of busy workers occupied in this work. The leaves 

 are used to thatch the domes which cover the entrances to 

 their subterranean dwellings, thereby protecting from the 

 deluging rains the young broods in the nests beneath. The 

 nests of this ant are sometimes very extensive, being forty 

 yards in circumference, but not more than two feet in 



