XX The Naturalist in Nicaragua 
There are plenty of examples of this phenomenon, such 
as the hornet-like moths and bee-like flies of our own 
country, and many other instances will be found in these 
pages. One discovered in tropical America by Mr. W. L. 
Sclater would have much delighted Belt had he come 
across it. In that region of the world the leaf- 
cutting ants present a very characteristic appearance as 
the column proceeds homewards, each ant carrying a piece 
of leaf held vertically in its jaws; and a homopterous 
insect has been found that faithfully resembles an ant bear- 
ing its burden. The latter is suggested by the thin com- 
pressed green body of the insect, and its profile is precisely 
like that of the jagged edge of the fragment of leaf held 
over the back of the ant. 
Of all the Nicaraguan fauna, judging from the narra- 
tive, the ants occupy the most prominent position. Both 
indoors and out they are ever in evidence. Belt describes 
the foraging ants, which do not make regular nests of their 
own, but attack those of other species and prey upon every 
killable living thing that comes in their way; the leaf- 
cutting ants, whose attacks upon his garden were repelled 
with so much difficulty; standing armies of ants main- 
tained by certain trees for their protection, and many other 
kinds, some of which kept his attention constantly on the 
stretch. Much space is devoted to their habits and wonder- 
ful instincts, amounting in many cases, so Belt considered, 
to as clear an evidence of reasoning intelligence as can 
be claimed for man himself. Indeed, after reading the 
account of their freeing of an imprisoned comrade and their 
grappling with problems arising out of such modern inven- 
tions as carbolic acid and tramways, we need not feel sur- 
prised if an observer accustomed to scrutinise the animal 
world so closely feels sceptical on the subject of “ instinct ”’ 
viewed as a mysterious entity antithetically opposed to 
“reason ’’ and supposed to act as its substitute in the lower 
orders. 
In reference to their methods of obtaining food, ants 
have been classified as hunting, pastoral, and agricultural, 
“three types,” as Lord Avebury remarks, “ offering a 
curious analogy to the three great phases in the history of 
human development.” As regards their social condition 
