276 ANTS AND TERMITES 



either by settling in the interior of the stalks (like the Formica 

 analis)f or by undermining the roots (like the Formica saccha- 

 rivora), so that the plant becomes sickly and dies. About eighty 

 years ago the island of Grrenada was overrun by hosts of these 

 devastating insects. Many household animals died from their 

 attacks, and they effectually cleared the land of rats, mice, and 

 reptiles. Streams of running water failed to interrupt their 

 progress, and fire was vainly used to stop them, for millions 

 rushed into the flames, and served as a bridge for the myriads 

 that followed. All the means employed to save the sugar plan- 

 tations from their fury proved ineffectual, until in the year 

 1780 the plague was swept away at once by a dreadful tornado, 

 accompanied by a deluge of rain. 



The Atta cephalotes, a species of ant distinguished by its large 

 head, is the most formidable enemy of the banana and cassava 

 fields. It lies in the ground and mrultiplies amazingly ; in a 

 very short time it will strip off the leaves of an entire field, and 

 carry them to its subterranean abodes. Even where their nest 

 is a mile distant from a plantation, these arch depredators know 

 how to find it, and soon form a highway, about half a foot broad, 

 on which they keep up the most active communications with 

 the object of their attack. In masterly order, side by side, one 

 army is seen to move onwards towards the field, while another 

 is returning to the nest. In the last column each individual 

 carries a round piece of leaf, about the size of a sixpence, 

 horizontally over its head — a circumstance from which the insect 

 has also been named the Umbrella ant. If the distance is too great, 

 a party meets the weary carriers half way, and relieves them of 

 their load. Although innumerable ants may thus be moving 

 along, yet none of them will ever be seen to be in the other's 

 way ; and all goes on with the regularity of clock-work. 



A third party is no less actively employed on the scene of 

 destruction, cutting out circular pieces of the leaves, which, as soon 

 as they drop upon the ground, are immediately seized by the 

 attentive and indefatigable carriers. Neither fire nor water can 

 prevent them from proceeding with their work. Though thou- 

 sands may be killed, yet in less than an hour all the bodies will 

 have been removed. Should the highway be closed by an insur- 

 mountable obstacle, another is soon laid out, and after a few 

 liours the operations, momentarily disturbed, resume their former 



