INSECTS. 227 



move, the whole animal world is set in commotion, arid every creature 

 tries to get out of their way. But it is especially the various tribes of 

 Wingless insects that have cause for fear, such as heavy-bodied spidi 

 ants of other species, maggots, caterpillars, larvae of cockroaches, and so 

 forth, all of which live under fallen leaves or in decaying wood. The 

 Ecitons do not mount very high on trees, and therefore the nestlings of 

 birds are not much incommoded by them. The mode of operation of these 

 armies, which I ascertained only after long-continued observation, is as 

 follows : the main column, from four to six deep, moves forward in a 

 given direction, clearing the ground of all animal matter, dead or alive, 

 and throwing off here and there a thinner column to forage for a short 

 time on the flanks of the main army ; and re-enter it again after their 

 task is accomplished. If some very rich place be encountered anywhere 

 near the line of march, — for example, a mass of rotten wood abounding in 

 insect larvae, — a delay takes place, and a very strong force of ants is con- 

 centrated upon it. The excited creatures search every cranny, and tear 

 in pieces all the large grubs they drag to light. It is curious to see them 

 attack wasps' nests, which are sometimes built on low shrubs. The}' gnaw 

 away the papery covering to get at the larvae, pupae, and newly hatched 

 wasps, and cut everything to tatters regardless of the infuriated owners 

 which are flying about them. In bearing off their spoil in fragments, the 

 pieces are apportioned to the carriers with some degree of regard to fair- 

 ness of load, the dwarfs taking the smallest pieces, and the strongest 

 fellows with small heads the heaviest portions. Sometimes two ants join 

 together in carrying one piece, but the worker-majors, with their unwieldly 

 and distorted jaws, are incapacitated from taking any part in the labor. 

 The armies never march far on a beaten path, but seem to prefer the 

 entangled thickets where it is seldom possible to follow them. I have 

 traced an army sometimes for half a mile or more, but was never able 

 to find one that had finished its clay's course and returned to its hive. 

 Indeed. I never met with a hive ; whenever the Ecitons were seen, they 

 were always on the march. 



'■I thought, one day at Villa Nova, that I had come upon a migratory 

 horde of this indefatigable ant. The place was a tract of open ground 

 near the riverside, just outside the edge of the forest, and surrounded by 

 rocks and shrubbery. A dense column of Ecitons was seen extending from 

 the rocks on one side of the little haven, traversing the open space, and 

 ascending the opposite declivity. The length of the procession was from 

 sixty to seventy yards, and yet neither van nor rear was visible. All were 

 moving in one and the same direction, except a few individuals on the 

 outside of the column, which were running rearward, trotting along for a 



