214 



upon everything, in everything, and not unfrequently a positive tor- 

 ment in more ways than one. A species of Myrmica, — M. saevissiraa, — 

 called by the natives the " fire-ant," is said to be the scourge of the 

 river Tapajos, proving quite as cruel a torment as sand-flies or mos- 

 quitoes ; it is found on all sandy soils in open places ; it is a small, 

 shining, red species ; its sting is so painful that it is compared to the 

 puncture of a red-hot needle ; and so great is its annoyance in houses, 

 where it becomes numerous, that the inmates are compelled to quit 

 them ; sometimes whole villages are deserted in consequence ; clothing 

 they destroy for the sake of the starch, and every article of food is de- 

 voured by them in houses where they take up their abode ; Mr. Bates 

 even thought that out of sheer malice they attacked him ; for, when 

 at a distance from their nests, the moment one of these ants touched 

 his flesh it stung him violently. In-doors he was obliged to sit on 

 chairs the legs of which were smeared with a kind of balsam very ob- 

 noxious to them, and on retiring to his hammock the cords that sus- 

 pended it were anointed with the same balsam. Were it not that at 

 the end of the rainy season large swarms of them perish by being 

 blown by squalls into the river, many places would be impenetrable 

 through the presence of this little member of the Formicidae. 



Ega is mentioned as one qf the richest of insect localities ; there 

 Mr. Bates captured 7000 species; about 140 of these were bees, 

 respecting whose history and economy ample details are given ; in 

 fact one of the striking peculiarities of this work is, that scarcely a 

 species is alluded to without some trait of its history accompanying 

 its name, showing how carefully every observation was registered. 

 At Ega 550 species of butterflies occurred, of which we are told that 

 " no description can convey an adequate notion of their beauty, and 

 diversity in form and colour." 



Ants, as I have before remarked, come in for a due share of atten- 

 tion, and I would particularly call your attention to the fifth chapter 

 of the second volume, where will be found a most wonderful history 

 of some species of the genus Eciton, a set of foraging ants, with stir- 

 ring accounts of the marches of their vast armies, and of their preda- 

 tory attacks on communities of their more peaceful brethren. On one 

 occasion an army of Eciton legionis was observed excavating mines 

 in an inclined bank of light earth, whence, from a depth of eight or 

 ten inches, they were dragging the bodies of a bulky species of For- 

 mica ; some were assisting their comrades to drag out the ants, whilst 

 others were engaged in tearing their bodies in pieces, one ant being 



