322 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1911. 



The fact that the white ants live and work entirely under cover 

 might naturally lead one to infer that they were much less abundant 

 than the true ants. But nowhere have I found the ground as thickly 

 covered with the termites' nests as with those of the true ants, a fact 

 probably due to some extent to the methods by which the two lands 

 of insects procure their food supplies. 



1 have never been able to estimate the number of individuals in 

 the old colonies, nor have I found such an estimate made by any- 

 one else. In the matter of numbers we are obliged to depend on 

 general impressions gained from the abundance of the above-ground 

 structures of the separate colonies and from certain of their habits. 

 For example, it is stated that the queen of an allied species whose 

 habits have been studied has "an egg-laying rate of 60 per mintute, or 

 something like 80,000 per day." » 



ANIMALS FEEDING ON TERMITES. 



As the white ants have no means of defense against their natural 

 enemies, they are easily destroyed and are preyed on by many other 

 insectivorous animals. Indeed, one of the impressive evidences 

 of the great numbers of the white ants in South America is the 

 existence there of certain large vertebrate burrowing animals that 

 are said to feed almost exclusively upon the white ants. 2 



The great ant-eater, known in Brazil as the tamandud landeira, is 

 said to live entirely on ants. Brazilians acquainted with the habits 

 of the tamandud tell me, however, that the ant-eater does not eat the 

 saubas or other biting or stinging ants, but that it lives chiefly and 

 almost exclusively on the cwpim, or so-called white ant. To give an 

 idea of the size of the animal, I quote the following measurements 

 of an ant-eater as given by Wells: Head, 16 inches; back, 4 feet; 

 tail, 4 feet; total length, 9 feet 4 inches. 3 



The existence of an animal as big as an ordinary dog, over 2 feet 

 high at the shoulder, with its long, slender muzzle, its powerful 

 forelegs and claws adapted to the excavation and exploration of 

 ant-mounds, and its tongue nearly a yard in length, and living 

 chiefly, if not entirely, upon white ants, is an important witness 

 on the side of the abundance of termites in the region in winch it 

 lives. Bates reports four species of ant-eaters in the Amazonas 

 region, two of which are large and two small ones (op. cit., 2d ed., 

 p. 110), while Wallace says there are five species in tropical America, 

 besides one extinct form. 4 



i C. L. Marlatt: Circular 50, p. 3, 2d ser., Bureau of Entomology, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 

 Washington, 1908. 



2 Holes often found in the mounds of the true ants show that some of these large ant-eating animals feed 

 on the true ants also. 



s J. W. Wells: Three thousand miles through Brazil, vol. 2, p. 141. London, 1886. 



* A. R. Wallace: The geographical distribution of animals, vol. 2, p. 247. New York, 1876. 



