DRIVER ANTS. 471 



as large as themselves, and never failing to pounce upon any grub 

 or insect that might happen to be lurking beneath their shelter. 

 They always carried such burdens longitudinally, grasping them 

 with their jaws and legs, and passing the load under the body. 

 Some of these roads are more than two hundred yards in length. 

 Meanwhile the other Ants were busy with the fowl. Begin- 

 ning at the base of the beak, they contrived to pull out the feath- 

 ers one by one, until they stripped it regularly backward, working- 

 over the head, along the neck, and so on to the body. This was 

 evidently a very hard task, as the insects did not possess sufficient 

 strength to pull out the feathers by main force, and were conse- 

 quently obliged to grub them up laboriously by the roots. The 

 nest business was to pull the bird to pieces, and at this work 

 they were left. Unfortunately the experiment was spoiled by 

 the natives, who stole the fowl, thinking that the Ants had eaten 

 so many of their poultry that they were justified in retaliation. 

 Others chose to excuse themselves by saying that they thought 

 the fowl to be a fetish offering to the Ants, and accordingly took 

 it away from them. 



The large iguana lizards fall victims to the Driver Ants, and 

 so do all reptiles, not excluding snakes. It seems, from the per- 

 sonal observations of Dr. Savage, that the Ants commence their 

 attack on the snake by biting its eyes, and so blinding the poor 

 reptile, which only flounders and writhes helplessly on one spot, 

 instead of gliding away to a distance. 



It is said by the natives that when the great python has crushed 

 its prey in its terrible folds, it does not devour it at once, but 

 makes a large circuit, at least a mile in diameter, in order to see 

 whether an army of Driver Ants is on the march. If so, it glides 

 off and abandons its prey, which will soon be devoured by the 

 Ants ; but if the ground is clear, it returns to the crushed animal, 

 swallows it, and gives itself to repose until the process of digestion 

 be completed. Whether this assertion be true or not, Dr. Savage 

 can not say ; but it is here given in order to show the extreme 

 awe in which the natives hold the Driver Ants. 



So completely is the dread of them on every living creature, 

 that on their approach whole villages are deserted, and in extreme 

 cases the entire population is forced to take to the rivers, know- 

 ing that the insects will not enter water unless obliged to do so, 

 although, on occasions, they do not hesitate to commit themselves 

 to the waves, as will presently be seen. 



