42 F. SUMICIIRAST. 



It is probable tliat the Eciton attacks the hirvas and pup^e of other 

 auts to make them serve as food for the nourishment of their own larvi^ 

 or for sustaining themselves. I surprised, one day, in the first hours 

 of a sombre and rainy morning, a considerable assemblage of tcpetjuan 

 (No. 36) fastened one upon another like a swarm of bees and entirely 

 still. Having dispersed them I perceived in the place which they cov- 

 ered with their bodies a quantity of little white larvae, brought away, 

 doubtless, from the nests of some M//rmicidse. At another time I 

 witnessed the pillage of a nursery of other ants by a quite numerous 

 band of Workers minores of No. 08; alarmed by the reprisals which I 

 made on their account, they took to flight, some of them carrying be- 

 tween their mandibles as many as three larvae at once. Among the 

 Mexican species of the genus Eciton, that to which they apply more 

 specially the name of soldados (No. 4), may be noticed for the habit 

 which it has of invading the habitations of the country. These visits 

 ordinarily take place at the beginning and the end of the rainy season, 

 and almost always during the night. The expeditionary army pene- 

 trates the habitation which it proposes to visit at many points at once, 

 and for this purpose divides itself into many columns of altack. One 

 is ap})rised very soon of their arrival by the household commotion 

 among the little parasitic animals. The rats (^3Ius tector am), the An- 

 ders, the cockroaches {Perijjlaneta aastriilaai'se Fab.), abandon their 

 retreats and seek to escape from the attacks of the ants, by flight. 

 Alimentary substances the soldados hold in no esteem, and they dis- 

 dain even sugary things, to which ants in general ai-e so partial. Dead 

 insects even do not seem to invite their covetousness. It has often 

 hapiiened to me to be obliged to abandon my abode, without having 

 time to carry away my collection, to which they have never done the 

 least injury. The trouble occasioned by these insects in entering 

 houses is more than compensated by the expeditious manner in which 

 they purge them of the vermin, and in this view their visit is an actual 

 benefit. 



The Eaton are found in all the hot and temperate parts of eastern 

 Mexico; some species even climb quite high upon the declivity of the 

 mountains, which are the foundations to the central plateau. Such is 

 the case with Nos. 4, 39 and 40, which I have found at a height of 

 nearly 4000 feet, in the environs of Orizaba. The localities where 

 the heat and humidity encourage an abundant vegetation, are those 

 ■which are sought for by the tepryuas. which seem to fear the rays of the 



