GEOLOGIC WORK OF ANTS — BRANNER. 309 



trances to their subterranean galleries, and a little sandy dome occurs here and there, 

 where the insects bring their young to receive warmth near the surface. The houses 

 are overrun with them; they dispute every fragment of food with the inhabitants, and 

 destroy clothing for the sake of the starch. All eatables are obliged to be suspended 

 in baskets from the rafters and the cords well soaked with copauba balsam, which is 

 the only means known of preventing them from climbing. They seem to attack per- 

 sons out of sheer malice; if we stood for a few moments in the street, even at a distance 

 from their nests, we were sure to be overrun and severely punished, for the moment 

 an ant touched the flesh he secured himself with his jaws, doubled in his tail, and stung 

 with all his might. When we were seated on chairs in the evenings in l'n m t of the house 

 to enjoy a chat with our neighbors, we had stools to support our feet, the legs of which, 

 as well as those of the chairs, were well anointed with the balsam. The cords of ham- 

 mocks are obliged to be smeared with the balsam in the same way to prevent the ants 

 from paying sleepers a visit. 



Anyone who wishes to get a clear understanding of the seriousness 

 of the bite of these ants should read Dr. Richard Spruce's account of 

 his personal experience of them 1 : 



August 15, 1853. — Yesterday I had the pleasure for the first time of experiencing 

 the sting of the large black ant called tucandera in Lingoa Geral. * * * 



I had gone after breakfast to herborise in the caapcera north of San Carlos, where 

 there were a good many decayed trunks and stumps. I stooped down to cut off a patch 

 of a moss on a stump, and remarked that by so doing 1 exposed a large hollow in the 

 rotten wood; but when I turned me to put the moss into my vasculum 1 did not notice 

 that a string of angry tucanderas poured out of the opening I had made. I was 

 speedily made aware of it by a prick in the thigh, which I supposed to be caused 

 by a snake until, springing up, I saw that my feet and legs were being covered 

 by the dreaded tucandera. There was nothing but flight for it, and 1 accordingly 

 ran off as quickly as I could among the entangling branches, and finally succeeded 

 in beating off the ants, but not before I had been dreadfully stung about the feet, 

 for I wore only slippers without heels, and these came off in the struggle. I was 

 little more than five minutes' walk from my house, * * * and I wished to walk 

 rapidly, but could not. I was in agonies, and had much to do to keep from throwing 

 myself on the ground and rolling about ae I had seen the Indians do when suffering 

 from the stings of this ant. * * * 



BENEFICIAL ANTS. 



Not all the ants, however, are to be looked upon as pests. Certain 

 carnivorous ants are rather to be regarded as beneficial to agriculture, 

 and to mankind generally, on account of their destruction of caterpil- 

 lars and other noxious insects. In districts where cotton is grown 

 the larvae of the cotton moths are kept in check by the ants destroying 

 the young ones, especially during the early part of the season. The 

 invasion of houses by ant colonies is a common occurrence in every 

 part of Brazil. Ordinarily these invasions are only temporary. Dur- 

 ing the hour or two when these ants swarm through one's house or 

 rooms they are certainly annoying, but they soon disappear, and one 

 feels that he has been relieved to a considerable extent from the cock- 

 roaches and other more offensive and more serious plagues. 



i Richard Spruce: Notes of a botanist on the Amazon and Andes, vol. 1, pp. 362-364. London, 1908. 



