388 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



when on the march. This is Eciton legionis, a species which is 

 not so common as either of the preceding, and appears only to be 

 seen on the wide sand-plains of Santarem. 



These insects sometimes attack the nest of one of the large bur- 

 rowing ants. Mr. Bates mentions that on one occasion he watched 

 a large army of Foragers begin their attack upon the nest of an 

 ant, some specimens of which he desired to procure. The Fora- 

 gers set to work with wonderful skill, arranging themselves into 

 two distinct sets of laborers, one set digging into the ground and 

 taking out large pellets of earth, and the other set receiving them 

 from their comrades and carrying them away. 



While watching the proceedings of the soldiers when repairing 

 the Thames river- wall after the terrible explosion near Belvedere, 

 I was strongly reminded of the Foraging Ants and their method 

 of working. The parallel was exact in every respect. The offi- 

 cers stood here and there and directed the efforts of their men, 

 while the workers were arranged in regular lines, one set of men 

 digging out the clods of earth, and a second set receiving them 

 and handing them to the spot where they were wanted. I could 

 but fancy that if an observer had been poised at some height 

 above the beach in a balloon, and watched the soldiers at work, 

 and had previously seen an army of Ecitons engaged in sinking 

 a shaft, he would have seen the insects and their labors precisely 

 reproduced in the human beings, art having at last discovered a 

 process which was in full operation before man knew how to 

 handle a weapon or a tool. 



After Mr. Bates had watched the proceedings of the ants for 

 some time, he took a trowel and opened the ground with it. The 

 clever insects at once took advantage of this aid, and dashed into 

 the breach by thousands, pouncing on the luckless inhabitants 

 and carrying them off in their jaws. So bold and so quick were 

 they, that Mr. Bates could scarcely manage to secure a single 

 specimen ; and even when he had caught an ant, the Foragers 

 would pull it out of his fingers. 



The same observer has known them to sink their shafts to a 

 depth of ten inches, invariably succeeding in their raid upon the 

 nest. The materials of which the nest is made they pull to 

 pieces, and carry the fragments home, together with the inmates. 

 When the nest is completely sacked, the invaders move out in 

 small lines, which march to join the main body, and soon unite 

 with it. The discipline of the community is really wonderful. 



