358 ANIMALS OF NEIGHBOURHOOD OF EGA. Cuap. XII. 
broad and compact column of ants moved up the steep sides of the 
hillock in a continued stream; many, which had hitherto trotted along 
empty-handed, now turned to assist their comrades with their heavy 
loads, and the whole descended into a spacious gallery or mine opening 
on the top of the termitarium. I did not try to reach the nest, which I 
supposed to lie at the bottom of the broad mine, and therefore in the 
middle of the base of the stony hillock. 
Eciton drepanophora.—The commonest species of foraging ants are 
Eciton hamata and E. drepanophora, two kinds which resemble each 
other so closely that it requires attentive examination to distinguish 
them ; yet their armies never intermingle, although moving in the same 
woods and often crossing each other’s tracks. The two classes of workers 
look, at first sight, quite distinct, on account of the wonderful amount of 
difference between the largest individuals of the one, and the smallest 
of the other. There are dwarfs not more than one-fifth of an inch in 

length, with small heads and jaws, and giants half an inch in length, 
with monstrously enlarged head and jaws, all belonging to the same 
family. There is not, however, a distinct separation of classes, individuals 
existing which connect together the two extremes. These Ecitons are 
seen in the pathways of the forest at all places on the banks of the 
Amazons, travelling in dense columns of countless thousands. One or 
other of them is sure to be met with in a woodland ramble, and it is to 
them, probably, that the stories we read in books on South America 
apply, of ants clearing houses of vermin, although I heard of no instance 
of their entering houses, their ravages being confined to the thickest parts 
of the forest. 
When the pedestrian falls in with a train of these ants, the first signal 
given him is a twittering and restless movement of small flocks of plain-” 
coloured birds (ant thrushes) in the jungle. If this be disregarded until 
he advances a few steps farther, he is sure to fall into trouble, and find 
himself suddenly attacked by numbers of the ferocious little creatures. 
They swarm up his legs with incredible rapidity, each one driving its 
pincer-like jaws into his skin, and with the purchase thus obtained, 
