i2 PARA. Cuap. I. 
in single file through the thickets. These belonged to the species 
called Dinoponera grandis. Its colonies consist of a small number of 
individuals, and are established about the roots of slender trees. It is 
a stinging species, but the sting is not so severe as in many of the 
smaller kinds. ‘There was nothing peculiar or attractive in the habits of 
this giant among the ants. Another far more interesting species was 
the Saiiba (GEcodoma cephalotes). This ant is seen everywhere about the 
suburbs, marching to and fro in broad columns. From its habit of 
despoiling the most valuable cultivated trees of their foliage, itis a great 
scourge to the Brazilians. In some districts it is so abundant that 
agriculture is almost impossible, and everywhere complaints are heard 
of the terrible pest. 
The workers of this species are of three orders, and vary in size from 
two to seven lines; some idea of them may be obtained from the 
accompanying woodcut. The true working-class ofa colony is formed by 
the small-sized order of workers, the worker-minors as they are called 
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Saiiba or Leaf-carrying Ant.—1. Worker-minor; 2. Worker-major ; 
3. Subterranean worker. 
(Fig. 1). The two other kinds, whose functions, as we shall see, are 
not yet properly understood, have enormously swollen and massive 
heads; in one (Fig. 2), the head is highly polished; in the other 
(Fig. 3), it is opaque and hairy. The worker-minors vary greatly in 
size, some being double the bulk of others. The entire body is of very 
solid consistence, and of a pale reddish-brown colour. The thorax or 
middle segment is armed with three pairs of sharp spines; the head, 
also, has a pair of similar spines proceeding from the cheeks behind. 
In our first walks we were puzzled to account for large mounds 
of earth, of a different colour from the surrounding soil, which were 
thrown up in the plantations and woods. Some of them were very 
extensive, being forty yards in circumference, but not more than two 
feet in height. We soon ascertained that these were the work of the 
Saiibas, being the outworks, or domes, which overlie and protect the 
entrances to their vast subterranean galleries. On close examination, I 
found the earth of which they are composed to consist of very minute 
granules, agglomerated without cement, and forming many rows of 

2 
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