232 JUNGLE PEACE 



gingerly lifted a big soldier with the forceps 

 and dropped him on the ant-hill. What oc- 

 curred was a replica of the usual army ant scene, 

 but enacted as if viewed through the large end 

 of an opera-glass. Scores of the minute brown 

 chaps rushed forth and for a moment fairly 

 overbore the white-headed giant. Indeed, be- 

 fore he could recover he was dragged partly 

 down a sandy hole. His jaws brandished and 

 champed, but his assailants were so small that 

 they slipped through them unharmed. Many 

 actually seized the jaws themselves and were 

 hurled through the air as they snapped together. 

 Regaining his feet, the great army ant stag- 

 gered off and, fortunately for him, rolled down 

 a slope into another column of his own kind. 

 Here he freed himself little by little, scraping 

 off the minute fighting browns with the help of 

 two very small workers, whose jaws, being much 

 less in size, were better able to grip the diminu- 

 tive furies. Their assistance was half-hearted, 

 and the odor of the dead and dying pygmies 

 was distinctly disliked by them. They were ap- 

 parently well aware of the capabilities of these 

 small cousins, and held them in high respect. 

 This outburst of successful defense on the 



