354 ANIMALS OF EGA. Chap. V. 



booty : this was a low thicket ; the Ecitons were moving 

 rapidly about a heap of dead leaves ; but as the short 

 tropical twilight was deepening rapidly, and I had no 

 wish to be benighted on the lonely campos, I deferred 

 further examination until the next day. 



On the following morning, no trace of ants could be 

 found near the place where I had seen them the pre- 

 ceding day, nor were there signs of insects of any 

 description in the thicket ; but at the distance of eighty 

 or one hundred yards, I came upon the same army, 

 engaged, evidently, on a razzia of a similar kind to that 

 of the previous evening ; but requiring other resources 

 of their instinct, owing to the nature of the ground. 

 They were eagerly occupied, on the face of an inclined 

 bank of light earth, in excavating mines, whence, from 

 a depth of eight or ten inches, they were extracting the 

 bodies of a bulky species of ant, of the genus Formica. 

 It was curious to see them crowding round the orifices 

 of the mines, some assisting their comrades to lift out 

 the bodies of the Formicas, and others tearing them in 

 pieces, on account of their weight being too great for a 

 single Eciton ; a number of carriers seizing each a frag- 

 ment, and carrying it off down the slope. On digging 

 into the earth with a small trowel near the entrances of 

 the mines, I found the nests of the Formicas, with grubs 

 and cocoons, which the Ecitons were thus invading, at 

 a depth of about eight inches from the surface. The 

 eager freebooters rushed in as fast as I excavated, and 

 seized the ants in my fingers as I picked them out, so 

 that I had some difficulty in rescuing a few entire for 

 specimens. In digging the numerous mines to get at 





