222 Prof. 0. Heer on the House Ant of Madeira. 



edges of the leaves, and with their fangs cut out in a short time a 

 piece of about half the size of a farthing, which they then directly 

 carry home. If, as very often happens, the piece falls to the ground 

 before they have been able to lay hold of it, they set themselves at 

 once afresh to work, and do not go down to look after the fallen 

 piece. Tt has been maintained, that the Isau throws this piece on 

 purpose to the ground to save itself and its fellow-labourers the 

 trouble of carrying it down. But this is by no means the case ; 

 for the ants approaching from the nest pay no heed to these 

 pieces of leaf, though the ground is often quite strewed with 

 them, but each for itself bites its own piece out of a leaf whilst yet 

 attached to the plant. This communication of the close observer 

 Rengger serves to correct earlier statements, that the Train-ant 

 bites the leaves off at the stalk, and lets them fall to the ground, 

 where their companions stand ready to clip up the fallen leaves 

 and carry them home. This stripping process is often so rapidly 

 effected, that sometimes in the morning trees look like besoms 

 which the evening before were standing in their whole beauty of 

 foliage ; nay, Lund relates, that he has seen a tree stripped within 

 half-an-hour. Dr. Delacour speaks of a similar species, which 

 sometimes in New Spain robs a garden of its whole crop of 

 plants in one night. One of his acquaintance had planted a 

 very fine vineyard : at the end of three years the ants made their 

 appearance, and, in the space of one night, it was despoiled of 

 the whole of its leaves and destroyed. 



The Train-ant properly lives in the open air; but sometimes it 

 makes inroads in regular trains, like a great army, into houses, 

 where it immediately makes chase after the flies, the spiders, cock- 

 roaches, and all vermin generally. However useful this activity, 

 yet is it so troublesome a guest, that those who live in the house 

 are not unfrequently obliged to leave their dwelling for some time. 

 When these ants swarm, the females are caught in great quan- 

 tities; the abdomen is cut off, fried in butter, and esteemed 

 a delicacy. Eaten undressed, its taste, says Rengger, is Hke 

 that of a hazel-nut; and when slightly toasted, or covered 

 thick with syrup, it tastes like burnt and sugared almonds. 

 The Train-ant does not attack people ; but this is by no means 

 the case with certain other American species. Dr. Delacour 

 speaks of a little reddish-yellow kind, which, by its sharp bite 

 causing inflammation, is very dangerous to little children. His 

 own child, twenty months old, once, in the middle of the night, 

 awakened him by a violent shriek ; on examination he found it 

 covered by a crowd of ants, which had bitten it so violently, 

 that in the morning it was quite covered with pustules, and for 

 forty-eight hours lay in a violent fever. The same kind is a 



