xli 



or mass of ants at the spot. Not so fortunate were the nestling 

 rats — at least, so I judged thera to be by a series of small 

 squeaks which gradually grew fainter. It made one shudder 

 to think of the awful death scores of small creatures were 

 dying. The bats had left on the first day, though I found one 

 dead clinging to the mosquito gauze of the window. Perhaps 

 it died of fright, for, had the ants attacked it, they would not 

 have left one bone uncleaned. Several geckos [Hemidactylus 

 mahouia) gave the ants a good run; some were killed, some 

 escaped and were running about next day as if nothing had 

 happened. 



July 6. — From 2.30 a.m. to 5.30 a.m., therefore, I lay 

 awake, sleep being out of the question. At 5.30 I called the 

 boys that we might harass the ants before they gained cover 

 in their holes at daybreak. We first collected the ten meat- 

 baits — each a mass of ants. It is difficult for one who has 

 never seen Siafu to conceive of the way in which they pile 

 themselves, one upon another. When the baits had been 

 dropped into the basins we fired the hay in the crocodiles' 

 cage, which as already stated was a seething mass of moving 

 ants : the body of the crocodile was recovered, or rather the 

 skin and bones. With handfuls of blazing grass we swept up 

 the lines of ants proceeding to the tortoise enclosure, and then 

 went in to effect their release, continuously moving our feet 

 to frustrate attack. 



To my relief all were alive. Bell's Box Tortoises [Cinnixys 

 helliana) had practically defied attack, and only one or two 

 Siafu were hanging on to each individual. Their armour- 

 plated fore-legs, when drawn in, protect the head in a most 

 wonderful fashion; they had had such a fright that not one 

 of them extruded its head whilst I was there. The Soft- 

 shelled Land Tortoises {Testudo lover idgii), on the other hand, 

 had fared badly. Many had a score of Siafu attached to them, 

 one had its eyelids badly eaten. I dropped all these into a 

 drum of water, and then set a native to work picking off the 

 remaining Siafu with a pair of forceps. 



On entering a room where sundry specimens are kept I 

 found it still, at 7 a.m., swarming with Siafu, and from the 

 drying-safe came the rasping of their feet on the gauze mesh. 



