310 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1911. 
Many writers have described the operations of these ants, but the 
following, quoted from Dr. Richard Spruce, will give a cleus idea of 
them: ? 
One morning soon after sunrise the hut was suddenly filled with lerge blackish ants, 
which ran nimbly about and tried their teeth on everything. My charqui proved too 
tough for them; but they made short work of a bunch of ripe plantains, and rooted out 
cockroaches, spiders, and other such like denizens of a forest hut. So long as they 
were left unmolested they avoided the human inhabitants; but when I attempted to 
brush them away they fell on me by hundreds and bit and stung fiercely. 
Thomas Belt has a good deal on the Sais of ants in Central 
America, The ipaiee extract is from his ‘‘Naturalist in Nica- 
ragua,’ page 17: 
One of the smaller species (Eciton predator) used occasionally to visit our house 
and swarm over the floors and walls, searching every cranny and driving out the cock- 
roaches and spiders, many of which were caught, pulled, bitten to pieces, and carried 
off. The individuals of this species were of various sizes, the smallest measuring one 
and a quarter lines and the largest three lines, or a quarter of an inch. 
I saw many armies of this, or a closely allied species, in the forest. My attention 
was generally first called to them by the twittering of some small birds, belonging to 
several different species, that follow the ants in the woods. On approaching, a dense 
body of the ants, three or four yards wide, and so numerous as to blacken the ground, 
would be seen moving rapidly in one direction, examining every cranny and under- 
neath every fallen leaf. On the flanks and in advance of the main body smaller col- 
umns would be pushed out. These smaller columns would generally first flush the 
cockroaches, grasshoppers, and spiders. The pursued insects would rapidly make off, 
but many in their confusion and terror would bound right into the midst of the main 
body of ants. 
Bates has the following regarding the Ecitons, page 354: 
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-colored birds (ant thrushes) 
in the jungle. Ii 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, doubling in its 
tail, and stinging with all its might. There is no course left but to run for it; if he is 
accompanied by natives, they will be sure to give the alarm, crying, ‘‘ Tauéca!’’ and 
scampering at full speed to the other end of the column of ants. The tenacious insects 
who have secured themselves to his legs then have to be plucked off one by one, a task 
which is generally not accomplished without pulling them in twain, and leaving heads 
and jaws sticking in the wounds. 
The errand of the vast ant armies is plunder, as in the case of Eciton legions; but 
from their moving always amongst dense thickets, their proceedings are not so easy 
to observe as in that species. Wherever they move, the whole animal world is set in 
commotion, and every creature tries to get out of their way. But it is especially the 
various tribes of wingless insects that have cause for fear, such as heavy-bodied spiders, 
ants of other species, maggots, caterpillars, larvee of cockroaches, etc., all of which live 
under fallen leaves or in decaying wood. The Ecitons do not mount very high on 
trees, and therefore the nestlings of birds are not much incommoded by them. 
1 Richard Spruce: Notes of a botanist on the Amazon and Andes, vol. 2, pp. 371-373. London, 1908. 
