THE GOLDEN WASPS. 383 



destitute of botli eyes and ocelli. They are described as marching in vast armies, and by some 

 writers as having 110 settled place of abode. On their march, which is performed on cloudy days 

 and in the night, they drive everything before them, and destroy not only all the insects they meet 

 with, but even many larger animals, which they are said to attack first of all in the eyes. In 

 this way even large snakes are described as becoming their victims. When they come into the 

 negro villages, and make their way into the houses, the inhabitants are obliged to quit their 

 dwellings, and wait until the Ants have passed. But their visits are attended with certain benefits, 

 which render them not altogether unwelcome. Their appearance in a house is soon revealed by 

 the simultaneous movement of all the rats, mice, lizards, cockroaches, and other vermin which 

 swarm in the dwellings in warm climates, and these are either compelled to decamp hastily, or are 

 caught, killed, and devoured. The Drivers ai - e said to cross rivers by a portion, of them making 

 themselves into a living bridge, over which the others pass in safety. When dislodged from their 

 lurking places by sudden floods, they are described as making themselves into a rounded mass, with 

 the pupae and eggs in the centre, and in this form they float upon the water 

 until they are landed in a safe place, or the flood subsides. 



Of the second group of Ants (the Myrmicinae), the best known species are 

 the little RED ANTS (Myrmica ruginodis, scabrinodis, and laxrinodis), formerly 

 included under the general name of Myrmica rubra. The workers are generally 

 about a sixth of an inch long, and the males and females rather larger. They 

 are met with making their nests in the ground, under stones, in the stumps of 

 trees, &c., and often occur in immense mimbers. A very minute Ant, which 

 SAUUA ANT. Das been introduced into Great Britain probably from Brazil or the West Indies, 



is the HOUSE ANT (Myrmica molesta}. It is a very small brownish-yellow 



species, which seems to have been first observed in England in 1828. It takes up its abode in 

 houses, frequently in the neighbourhood of the kitchen fireplace; and, when it multiplies, becomes 

 such a pest as to render the house uninhabitable. 



This group includes a multitxide of interesting exqtic species, mostly of larger size than the 

 European forms. In the genus Eciton, the species of which are found almost exclusively in 

 Brazil, the workers make expeditions in long and regular columns, pushing out branch columns 

 in. the direction of any promising locality. These processions, one of which was observed of a length 

 of from sixty to seventy yards, without either the front or rear of it being visible, are doubtless made 

 commonly for foraging purposes, but singularly enough the insects frequently carry the larvae in their 

 mandibles. Any insects falling in the way of these expeditions are immediately seized and torn to 

 pieces. CEcodoma cephalotes, the SAUBA ANT, also a Brazilian species, lives in enormous communities 

 in subterranean formicaries, the position of which is indicated externally only by a low hill of earth, 

 of rather light colour. These Ants are leaf-cutters, ascending the trees in vast numbers, and cutting 

 pieces out of the leaves about the size of a shilling, which are dropped to the ground, where another 

 multitude is incessantly engaged in gathering up the pieces, and carrying them to the nest. For 

 what purpose these portions of leaves are so laboriously collected it is difficult to say. Mr. Belt 

 thought that the Ants stored them in subterranean chambers for the sake of the fungi which grew 

 upon them there. The CEcodoma is not content with such diet, however, but becomes a nuisance in 

 Brazil, by visiting the houses for the purpose of plundering provisions.* 



FAMILY CHRYSIDID.E, OR GOLDEN WASPS. 



Some brilliant little gems of flies, showing the colours of the emerald, the sapphire, and the 

 ruby, with the addition in general of a golden surface tint, form the last family of the Aculeate 

 Hymenoptera, These insects have the antennae composed of thirteen joints, and bent at the 

 end of the first joint, the eyes oval, and the ocelli distinct. The mouth is constructed after 



* For further information on the European Ants the reader may consult the writings of Francis Huber, Latreille, and 

 other older writers, or the summary of their results given in the " Introduction to Entomology " of Kirby and Spence. 

 Sir John Lubbock's valuable papers have already been referred to. Upon exotic Ants, interesting notes will be found in the 

 writings of several travellers, but especially in Mr. Bates's "Naturalist on the Amazons," and Mr. Belt's "Naturalist in 

 Nicaragua." Mr. McCook's articles on Californian and Mexican Ants, published in the " Proceedings of the Academy of 

 Natural Sciences of Philadelphia," are also most interesting. 



