Driver Ants 



fine collection was handed over to the museum, 

 many insects among the lot being new to London. 

 On my return some months later I went to the 

 Natural History Museum, hoping to see the 

 results of my gift, and was met with so much 

 red tape that I thereupon made a vow never 

 again to go out of my way to collect anything 

 for it. The officials seemed to think I was 

 presuming when I asked to be shown the speci- 

 mens I had taken so much trouble to procure, 

 and all I could get out of them was that my 

 offering " had been incorporated in the collec- 

 tion." 



Among other things I sent home were the 

 shells of some edible snails, which were coloured 

 dark brown, banded with yellow, some of them 

 measuring four inches by two. I had noticed 

 a heap of them in the native town amongst 

 the huts, and asked one of the niggers, who 

 spoke English, what they were for. " Heap 

 good chop," he answered, which, being inter- 

 preted, means, "Plenty good food," so I told 

 him to bring me a supply to the Consulate. 

 " Them big house that live for hill." 



I put some of the snails into a large glass jar 

 filled with water, and placed a piece of glass over 

 the top. When snails are treated in this fashion 

 they exhaust all the air in the jar and come out 

 of their residences to avoid suffocation. In a 

 couple of hours the animals had entirely left 



41 



