2to THE WORLD'S LUMBER ROOM. 



according to Mr. McCook, as vermin-killers by the Indians, 

 who spread their furs and blankets upon or near an ant-hill 

 and soon find them perfectly cleared of eggs, larvae, and 

 insects. Strictly speaking, however, it is not when they 

 prey upon the living, but when they keep to their usual 

 diet of dead insects, that these American ants can be re- 

 garded as scavengers. 



The small red fire-ant, Mr. Bates says, though found in 

 most open places along the banks of the Amazons, wherever 

 the soil is sandy, seems to have its head-quarters at Aveyros, 

 a village on the tributary Tapajos, which is completely 

 undermined by its galleries. The Tapajos is nearly free 

 from the insect-pests of other parts, a fact which may per- 

 haps be put to the credit of the fire-ant, but the latter seems 

 to be as great a plague as all the rest together. At one time 

 Aveyros was actually deserted in consequence of their 

 attacks, and though their numbers were supposed to be 

 diminished at the time of Mr. Bates's visit, the houses were 

 still overrun with them, they disputed every fragment of 

 food with the inhabitants, and destroyed clothing for the 

 sake of the starch. Eatables had to be suspended from the 

 rafters in baskets, the cords being well soaked in a kind of 

 balsam. So malignant and unprovoked are their attacks 

 that the cords of hammocks must be smeared with the same 

 balsam to keep them off at night, and those who would enjoy 

 an open-air chat with their neighbours in the evening, must 

 rest their feet on stools and sit on chairs the legs of which 

 have likewise been well smeared. 



At Ega on the Upper Amazons, Mr. Bates had to keep 

 his specimens in cages suspended from the rafters by cords 



