FORAGING ANTS. 219 



them, and which are sure to accompany a column of Foraging 

 Ants on the march. 



As soon as the experienced inhabitants of tropical America 

 see the ant-thrushes, they rejoice in the coming deliverance, 

 and welcome the approaching army. The fact is, that in those 

 countries insect life swarms as luxuriously as the vegetation, 

 and there are many insects which, however useful in their own 

 place, are apt to get into houses, and there multiply to such an 

 extent, that they become a real plague, and nearly drive the 

 inhabitants out of their own homes. They are bad enough 

 by day, but at night they issue from the nooks and crevices 

 where they lay concealed, and make their presence too pain- 

 fully known. 



There are insects that bite, and insects that suck, and in- 

 sects that scratch, and insects that sting, and many are re- 

 markable for giving out a most horrible odour. Some of them 

 are cased in armour as hard as crab-shells, and will endure 

 almost any amount of violence, while some are as round, as 

 plump, as thin-skinned, and as juicy as over-ripe gooseberries, 

 and collapse almost with a touch. There are great flying 

 insects which always make for the light, and unless it is de- 

 fended by glass, will either put it out, or will singe their wings 

 and spin about on the table in a manner that is by no means 

 agreeable. The smaller insects get into the inkstand and fill it 

 with their tiny carcases, while others run over the paper and 

 smear every letter as it is made. There are great centipedes, 

 which are legitimate cause of dread, being armed with poison 

 fangs scarcely less venomous than those of the viper. There 

 are always plenty of scorpions ; while the chief army is com- 

 posed of cockroaches, of dimensions, appetite, and odour such 

 as we can hardly conceive in this favoured land. As to the 

 lizards, snakes, and other reptiles, they are so common as 

 almost to escape attention. 



For a time these usurpers reign supreme. Now and then a 

 few dozen are destroyed in a raid, or a person of sanguine tem- 

 perament amuses his leisure hours, and improves his marks- 

 manship, by picking off the more prominent intruders with a 



