162 THROUGH THE BRAZILIAN WILDERNESS 



the full life-histories of the creatures that dwell in the 

 waste spaces of the world. 



At this point both Cherrie and Miller collected a num- 

 ber of mammals and birds which they had not previously 

 obtained; whether any were new to science could only be 

 determined after the specimens reached the American Mu- 

 seum. While making the round of his small mammal 

 traps one morning, Miller encountered an army of the for- 

 midable foraging ants. The species was a large black one, 

 moving with a well-extended front. These ants, sometimes 

 called army-ants, like the driver-ants of Africa, move in 

 big bodies and destroy or make prey of every living thing 

 that is unable or unwilling to get out of their path in time. 

 They run fast, and everything runs away from their ad- 

 vance. Insects form their chief prey; and the most dan- 

 gerous and aggressive lower-life creatures make astonish- 

 ingly little resistance to them. Miller's attention was first 

 attracted to this army of ants by noticing a big centiped, 

 nine or ten inches long, trying to flee before them. A 

 number of ants were biting it, and it writhed at each bite, 

 but did not try to use its long curved jaws against its 

 assailants. On other occasions he saw big scorpions and 

 big hairy spiders trying to escape in the same way, and 

 showing the same helpless inability to injure their raven- 

 ous foes, or to defend themselves. The ants climb trees 

 to a great height, much higher than most birds' nests, and 

 at once kill and tear to pieces any fledglings in the nests 

 they reach. But they are not as common as some writers 

 seem to imagine; days may elapse before their armies are 

 encountered, and doubtless most nests are never visited 

 or threatened by them. In some instances it seems likely 



