44 RIO DE JANEIRO. 



the Hymenoptera; the bees, perhaps, being ex- 

 cepted. A person, on first entermg a tropical for- 

 est, is astonished at the labours of the ants : well- 

 beaten paths branch off in every direction, on which 

 an army of never-failing foragers inay be seen, some 

 going forth, and others returning, burdened with 

 pieces of green leaf, often larger than their own 

 bodies. 



A small dark-coloured ant sometimes migrates 

 in countless numbers. One day, at Bahia, my at- 

 tention was drawn by observing many spiders, 

 cockroaches, and other insects, and some lizards, 

 rushing in the gi'eatest agitation across a bare piece 

 of ground. A little way behind, every stalk and 

 leaf was blackened by a small ant. The swarm 

 having crossed the bare space, divided itself, and 

 descended an old wall. 13y this means luany in- 

 sects were faii'ly enclosed ; and the efforts which 

 the poor little creatures made to extricate them- 

 selves from such a death were wonderful. "When 

 the ants came to the road they changed their 

 course, and in narrow files reascended the wall. 

 Having placed a small stone so as to intercept one 

 of the lines, the whole body attacked it, and then 

 iminediately retired. Shortly afterwards another 

 body came to the charge, and again having failed 

 to make any impression, this line of march was 

 entirely given up. By going an inch round, the 

 file might have avoided the stone, and this doubt- 

 less would have happened, if it had been originally 

 there : but having been attacked, the lion-hearted 

 little warriors scorned the idea of yielding. 



Certain wasp-like insects, which consti'uct in tho 

 corners of the verandahs clay cells for their larvas, 

 are very numerous in the neighbourhood of Hio. 

 These cells they stuff full of half-dead spiders and 

 caterpillars, which they seem wonderfully to know 



