234» JUNGLE PEACE 



could put up would not stand an instant before 

 a concerted rush of battling army ants. The 

 saving character is doubtless odor or taste. I 

 dropped a tunnelful of these insects in the path 

 of the army ants and they were quite ignored, 

 although the black-and-white-headed fellows 

 were terribly angry and excited. 



I coveted a small beetle of peculiar pattern 

 which the ants were hurrying along, and in tak- 

 ing it from them I accidentally cut an army ant 

 in two. His abdomen rolled down a small slope 

 and caused considerable panic among his fellows. 

 They formed a ring round it and waved their 

 antennas in mid-air, the scent of the blood of 

 their own kind causing them to forget hurry and 

 burdens and their normal activities. The front 

 part of the ant seemed but httle inconvenienced 

 and endeavored to seize and carry the load it 

 had dropped. Little by little it began to realize 

 that all was not right, and after one or two at- 

 tempts to turn and investigate, it ran rapidly 

 down the trail. I made a dab at it to put it 

 out of what seems better called inconvenience 

 than misery, but succeeded only in bisecting the 

 thorax, so that there remained the head and 

 front pair of legs. These lost nothing in activ- 



