” 
GEOLOGIC WORK OF ANTS—BRANNER,. 328 
The armadillos, known in Brazil as fattis, are also ant-eaters. As 
Mr. Wallace points out,’ the armadillos are highly characteristic 
of tropical South and Central America, and at the time of the publica- 
tion of his famous work on the geographical distribution of animals 
they embraced 6 genera and 17 species, to say nothing of many 
extinct species found by Lund in the caves of Minas Geraes. Some 
of these armadillos are so large that a single individual will weigh 
as much as 75 pounds, or even more. 
They live upon insects chiefly, and the white ants seem to be their 
favorite food. They enter the nests by digging openings at the base 
of the cones with their powerful fore feet.” 
The white ants also form the principal food of the South American 
ostrich (Rhea americana), which is the largest bird in tropical 
America.’ 
In addition, there are large numbers of birds and reptiles, such as 
toads, frogs, lizards, and snakes, that habitually feed upon these 
insects. 
The true ants are enemies of the white ants worthy of especial 
mention. The abundance of the ants and their pugnacious disposi- 
tions make them serious obstacles to the development of the termites’ 
colonies, and they are probably their worst natural enemies. The 
termites have in their colonies forms that are known among biologists 
as soldiers, but so far as I have been able to determine from personal 
observations these soldiers do not attack the true ants, though they 
do take the place of soldiers in obstructing the passage of the ants into 
the termites’ nests and galleries. 
The result of the relations existing between the true ants and the 
termites is that the two kinds do not thrive together; at least I have 
never found the termites’ nests where the savibas or other true ants 
were notably abundant. Preyed on by the true ants and by animals 
of so many different kinds, and even by insects themselves, it occurs 
to one that their chances of survival in the midst of so many enemies 
must be very small. That survival appears to be due largely to their 
habit of living and working under the protection of their covered 
roadways, and to the fact that their roads are constructed of mate- 
rials that are remarkably inconspicuous. Nothing could look more 
thoroughly abandoned and lifeless than the common run of white 
ants’ nests and their covered passages; yet if one breaks through 
these coverings he will usually find them fairly swarming with life. 
My general impression is that those white ants which build mounds 
of earth are especially abundant in the highlands of Minas Geraes 
and through the semiarid portions of Sergipe, Bahia, Goyaz, Matto 
1 Alfred R. Wallace: The geographical distribution of animals, vol. 1, pp. 245-246. New York, 1876. 
2 The flesh of the tattis is very much prized for food, and this naturally leads to the hunting and killing 
of these animals, which should be protected. 
® George Gardner: Travelsin theinterior of Brazil, p. 280. London, 1846. 
