544 SAUBA ANTS. 



— who greedily eat them up. On reaching the ground they 

 immediately divest themselves of their wings ; and the few 

 pairs which escape from their foes seek safety in some hollow 

 beneath a leaf or lump of earth, where they await the arrival 

 of the faithful labourers, who now come forth in seai'ch of 

 them, and conduct them, as has before been said, to the newly- 

 formed abode prepared for their reception. And thus the 

 wonderful process goes forward year after year. 



So utterly helpless are these males and females, that, were 

 it not for the assistance of other individuals, the race would 

 speedily become extinct. The warrior termites are utterly 

 regardless of personal safety. When their castle is attacked, 

 they appear in vast numljers at the breach, to cover the 

 retreat of the labourers. As the lono- tonsfue of the ant-eater 

 is projected among them, they throw themselves on it ; and no 

 sooner is one regiment swallowed up than another rushes out 

 to take its place — thus, by the sacrifice of themselves, enabling 

 the rest of the community to seek safety in flight. 



SAUBA ANTS. 



Of the numerous true ants which exist in all parts of Tropi- 

 cal America, the sauba is one of the most remarkable. In all 

 parts of the country — as well near the abodes of man as in 

 the distant wilds — large mounds are seen, two feet in length, 

 and often upwards of forty yards in circumference, and distin- 

 guished from the surrounding soil by the difference of colour. 

 Yet these mounds are merely the domes or upper works of 

 the vast subterranean galleries which run for enormous dis- . 

 tances and to great depths below the surface. Unlike the 

 termites, the armies go forth in open daylight in vast hordes, 

 to obtain food or materials for the construction of their won- 



