138 TRINIDAD. 



one only, or a dozen or more, taking charge of each piece, accord- 

 ing to the size. The crazy ants neither bite nor sting. 



The hunter and parasol-ants deserve pecular notice. The 

 former, or visiting ant, called also Four-mi chasseuse, is not, I con- 

 ceive, the Atta cephalotes of Fabricius, because the head is not 

 comparatively large ; it is of a brown colour, but the abdomen of 

 a lighter hue than the thorax and head ; when full grow a it is 

 about one-third of an inch long. This ant is very active and quick 

 in its movements, stings most severely, and may be said to be ex- 

 cessively fierce in its attack. It is exclusively carnivorous, and, 

 after killing its prey, divides it into portions, each ant carrying its 

 share of the spoil. The hunter ants do not build nests, but choose 

 recesses in some decayed tree, or among dry leaves, forming a sort 

 of moss, sometimes two feet in diameter, where they congregate 

 during the dry months ; in fact, they are nomadic, being always 

 engaged in some predatory excursion, and preferring the wet to 

 the dry seasons for their expeditions ; they carry with them their 

 larvae close to the body. The army, or tribe, on starting, 

 marches on a frontage of from about five to six feet, by ten feet 

 deep ; then follow three or four columns, which afterwards are 

 formed into two, and sometimes only a single section, this rear- 

 guard being sometimes half a mile from the expeditionary corps 

 actually engaged in spoliation. The latter beats up the ground, 

 climbing the smaller trees, groping into every hole, under every 

 leaf, and leaving nothing unvisited. Not only insects and the 

 smaller animals fly in every direction, but even the larger species 

 are compelled to give way ; for the hunter ants kill every living 

 thing in the way of their march, young birds in their nests, ani- 

 mals too young or too weak to escape, cock-roaches, scorpions, 

 crickets, &c., and carry away the larvae of insects and their 

 nymphs ; they dare not penetrate, however, into the nests of the 

 parasol-ants, which defend their townships bravely. The hunters 

 are generally accompanied by anis, thrushes, and other birds 

 which feed on insects ; and during the bustle of their ravages, there 

 is a sort of crackling, occasioned not only by the movements of 

 the ants themselves, but also by the frightened insects that flee in 

 all directions. The hunter ants sometimes visit houses where they 

 destroy an immense quantity of vermin ; rats, mice, cock-roaches, 

 centipedes, scorpions, become their prey, or are obliged to abandon 

 the house. It is well, then, to protect oneself and the young of the 



