in ANIMAL LIFE IN THE TROPICAL FORESTS 279 



found, and other tropical countries are no doubt equally rich. 

 I will first give some account of the various species observed 

 in the Malay islands, and afterwards describe some of the 

 more interesting South American groups, which have been 

 so carefully observed by Mr. Bates on the Amazons and by 

 Mr. Belt in Nicaragua. 



Among the very commonest ants in all parts of the world 

 are the species of the family Formicidse, which do not sting, 

 and are most of them quite harmless. Some make delicate 

 papery nests, others live under stones or among grass. 

 Several of them accompany Aphides to feed upon the sweet 

 secretions from their bodies. They vary in size from the 

 large Formica gigas, more than an inch long, to minute 

 species so small as to be hardly visible. Those of the genus 

 Polyrachis, which are plentiful in all Eastern forests, are 

 remarkable for the extraordinary hooks and spines with which 

 their bodies are armed, and they are also in many cases 

 beautifully sculptured or furrowed. They are not numerous 

 individually, and are almost all arboreal, crawling about bark 

 and foliage. One species has processes on its back just like 

 fish-hooks, others are armed with long, straight spines. They 

 generally form papery nests on leaves, and when disturbed 

 they rush out and strike their bodies against the nest so as to 

 produce a loud rattling noise j but the nest of every species 

 differs from those of all others either in size, shape, or position. 

 As they all live in rather small communities in exposed 

 situations, are not very active, and are rather large and con- 

 spicuous, they must be very much exposed to the attacks of 

 insectivorous birds and other creatures, and having no sting 

 or powerful jaws with which to defend themselves, they would 

 be liable to extermination without some special protection. 

 This protection they no doubt obtain by their hard smooth 

 bodies, and by the curious hooks, spines, points, and bristles 

 with which they are armed, which must render them unpalat- 

 able morsels, very liable to stick in the jaws or throats of their 

 captors. 



A curious and very common species in the Malay islands 

 is the green ant ((Ecophylla smaragdina), a rather large, long- 

 legged, active, and intelligent-looking creature, which lives in 

 large nests formed by gluing together the edges of leaves, 



