THE HONEY-POT ANT. 



437 



i.e. honey-ants, or " hormigas inochileras," i.e. pouch-ants. 

 They are in great request, and are sold by measure. One of 

 the principal uses to which they are put is the manufacture of 

 a sort of mead, the Ants being first pressed so as to squeeze 

 the honey out of them. There is a bottle full of these strange 

 insects in the British Museum. 



The colour is like that of the common burrowing Ant, being- 

 reddish brown on the thorax, and darker on the abdomen. The 

 honey-pot insects have a most curious look, the membrane of the 

 abdomen being so thin and transparent that the honey can be 

 plainly seen within the body. The generic name Myrmecocystus 

 is formed from two Greek words, the one signifying an ant, 

 and the other a bag or pouch. 



The insect which is here shown, although not quite the largest 

 of the Ant tribe, is among the giants of the group. It is an in- 

 habitant of tropical America, 

 and is tolerably common. 



It is by no means a pre- 

 possessing insect in appear- 

 ance, being of a dull, dead 

 black in colour, and slow 

 and sluggish in its move- 

 ments. It lives in very 

 small colonies, consisting of 

 some six or seven individuals 

 only, and the inhabitants of 

 each colony do not seem to 

 have any idea of working 

 in concert. Their nest is 

 generally under a stone. 



Both the females and neuters possess stings, and the venom 

 with which their weapons are armed causes such excruciating 

 pain that the name Dinoponera is very appropriate. This 

 name is formed from two Greek words, the former signifying 

 "terrible" and the latter "wicked." In consequence of the 

 virulent character of the poison, the Macoushie Indians employ 

 the Ant in the manufacture of their celebrated Wourali poison. 

 I do not believe that it has the least effect on the poison, the 

 active part of which is purely vegetable. The body, of this Ant 



Fig. 224. — Dinoponera gfandis. 



(Black.) 



