394! Bibliographical Notices. 



instruments of protection to the real workers. Their enormously 

 large, hard, and indestructible heads may be of use in protecting 

 them against the attacks of insectivorous animals. They would be, 

 ou this view, a kind of ' pieces de resistance,' serving as a foil against 

 onslaughts made on the main body of workers" (vol. i. pp. 23-31). 



This last is an ingenious suggestion of our author's, and if he had 

 not so honestly confessed the incompleteness of his investigations, 

 we should have been inclined to attach much weight to it ; but, as 

 the case stands, it must remain for future observers to establish its 

 probability. We may here remark that Mr, Bates (as might be in- 

 ferred from the foregoing passages) is a strenuous advocate of Mr. 

 Darwin's views* ; indeed he states that it is owing to the encourage- 

 ment given him by that gentleman that we see the work now before 

 us. But we have here no intention of being dragged into the depths of a 

 discussion on the derivative theory. Both opponents and promoters 

 of that hypothesis will find much in the ' Naturalist on the Amazons ' 

 to interest them ; and in future Mr. Bates's work is certain to be 

 constantly referred to by either side. 



But other Ants there are not so innocuous in their disposition. 

 The terrible *' Formiga de fogo " {Myrmica scevissitna), " whose sting 

 is likened by the Brazilians to the puncture of a red-hot needle," 

 abounds on the Tapajos, a river flowing into the Amazons at Santa- 

 rem. " It is found only on sandy soils in open places, and seems to 

 thrive most in the neighbourhood of houses and weedy villages, such 

 as Aveyros : it does not occur at all in the shades of the forest. I 

 noticed it in moist places on the banks of the Amazons ; but the 

 species is not very common on the main river, and its presence there 

 is scarcely noticed, because it does not attack man, and the sting is 

 not so virulent as it is in the same species on the banks of the Ta- 

 pajos. Aveyros was deserted a few'years before my visit, on account 

 of this little tormenter, and the inhabitants had only recently re- 

 turned to their houses, thinking its numbers had decreased They 



seem to attack persons out of sheer malice : if we stood for a few 

 moments in the street, even at a distance from their nests, we were 

 sure to be overrun and severely punished ; for the moment an ant 

 touched the flesh, he secured himself with his jaws, doubled in his 

 tail, and stung with all his might" (vol. ii. pp. 95-97). The re- 

 medy for this pleasant state of things is found in anointing the legs 

 of chairs and foot-stools and the hammock-cords with copaiba bal- 

 sam, which drug, it appears, is more than even Fire-ants can stomach, 

 and by its application people are enabled to have a little peace. 



We have not space to quote the long and extremely interesting 

 account which Mr. Bates gives (vol. ii. pp. 350-365) of the ants of 

 another group, the genus Eciton. These inhabit the densest parts 

 of the forest, moving in vast armies. The main column, from four 

 to six deep, marches forward, clearing the ground of all animal 



* See also the clever paper in the ' Transactions of the Linnean Societ)'^, 

 vol. xxiii. p. 495, the principles maintained iu which, be they right or wrong, 

 at least possess the merit of entire originality. 



