308 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1911. 
and all kinds of garden vegetables. Indeed, there seem to be very few 
or no cultivated plants that they do not attack. 
They generally move along well-beaten paths that are almost as 
wide and as well defined as sheep paths in a pasture. 
The expense of fighting these ants is a really serious item in the cost 
of the production of Brazilian coffee. A distinguished Brazilian 
planter says, with perfect justice, that ‘“‘among the obstacles with 
which the planters have to contend * * * there stands perhaps 
in the front rank the destructive force represented by the saiba.”’ 4 
One can get some idea of the economic importance of ants in Brazil 
from the fact that in the seventies and early eighties an enormous 
number of privileges or patents were asked of the Brazilian Govern- 
ment for machines and devices of various kinds for killing ants, and 
especially the sauibas. . 
In 1857 the Province of Rio de Janeiro voted a reward of $25,000 for 
the discovery of a means of destroying satbas.’ 
It is impossible to keep things out of their reach on any large scale. 
Certain devices are used with more or less success for protecting things 
indoors when they are constantly watched, but standing crops or 
considerable stores require constant watchfulness and war. 
In regard to the satébas in the Amazon region Bates says: 
This ant (the satiba) 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, it isa 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. 
ATTACKS ON MAN. 
The formiga de fogo, or fire ants, are so called on account of the pain- 
fulness of their sting. When they are met with in large numbers 
there is simply no withstanding them. 
One of the reasons for calling ants the kings, rulers, and owners of 
the country is due to the vicious attacks they make upon all kinds 
of animals. Bates tells of one case in which a town on the Tapajos 
was actually depopulated by ants of this kind. This statement 
seems so remarkable that it is quoted here at length: * 
Aveyros was deserted a few years before my visit on account of this little tormentor 
(formiga de fogo), and the inhabitants had only recently returned to their houses, 
thinking its numbers had decreased. It isa small species, of a shining reddish color, 
not greatly differing irom the common red stinging ant of our own country ( Myrmica 
rubra), except that the pain and irritation caused by its sting are much greater. 
The soil of the whole village is undermined by it; the ground is perforated with the en- 
1 Henrique de Paula Mascarenhas: Revista Agricola do Imperial Instituto, vol. 14, p. 215. Rio de 
Janeiro, December, 1883. 
2 Auxiliador da Industria Nacional, vol. 37, p. 64. Rio deJ an¢iro, 1869. 
3H. W. Bates: The naturalist on the River Amazons, 4th ed., p.9. London, 1875. 
4 Naturalist on the Amazons, p. 205. 
