152 HYMENOPTERA. 



the antenuag, mandibles, face anteriorly, and the legs, rufo-testa- 

 ceoiis ; the insect thinly covered with long griseous pnbescence. 

 Head ovate ; the eyes very minute, and glassy bright. Thorax 

 shining and smooth, anteriorly roughened, and opake behind, 

 deeply strangulated a little behind the middle ; the raetathorax 

 not grooved above, rounded behind. Abdomen ovate; the first 

 node of the peduncle elongate-ovate, the second globose. 



Worker minor. Length 1^ line. — There is no diiference 

 between this and the large worker, except in its being smaller. 



Hah. Brazil (Villa Nova). 



8. ECITON PRiEDATOR. B.M. 



Worker. Length 'S\ lines. — Ferruginous : the head and 

 thorax very finely, closely and delicately punctured ; head veiy 

 large, as in E. hamata ; mandibles very stout, widened at their 

 apex, tiieir inner margin smooth, blunt at the tij), produced 

 within into a blunt tooth, finely striated longitudmally. Thorax 

 narrowed behind ; the metathorax not spined or grooved above. 

 Abdomen small and ovate ; the first node of the peduncle longer 

 than the second, which is nearly globose. 



Worker minor. Length 2 lines. — This differs from the large 

 worker in the form of its mandibles, they are of a more trian- 

 gular form, their apex acute, and curved downwards, their inner 

 margin finely denticulated ; the antennae are longer, and, as well 

 as the legs, much palei' ; in other respects they agree. 



Hab. Brazil (Ega). 



Of the habits of this species Mr. Bates furnishes the following 

 account : " This species of Eciton differs from all the others in 

 its habits ; iusteail of foraging in narrow columns, it hunts in dense 

 masses of myriads of individuals. Nothing in Entomology is 

 more curious than to watch the vast compact body moving 

 rapidly along; where they pass, all the rest of the insect world 

 is m commotion and alarm. They stream along the ground, 

 and climb to the summit of all the lower trees, searching everj- 

 leaf to its apex ; when they come to a mass of decaying vege- 

 table matter, they cover it with a living crowd, penetrate everv 

 chink and cranny, then leave it, and rajjidly move on. All 

 a|)terous insects, especially fat spiders and larva3 of BlattcB, 

 which latter are excessively numerous about the fallen foliage, 

 scamper off before the rapidly moving mass, in quite a ludicrous 

 manner. The smaller larvie of Lcpidoptera and Diptera fall an 

 easy prey to them, as well as some of the large obese species of 

 the genus Formica. The phalanx altogether, when passing over 

 a tract of open ground, occupies a space of from six to ten square 

 yards ; on examining them closely, they are seen to move not 



