126 ANTS AND ANT LIFE 



lands than of European, although they are not less numerous. 

 Bates found a peculiar species of snake (Amphisbasna) in the 

 nests of the Sa-uba ants. Julius Frobel saw in Mexico an ant- 

 colony changing its dwelling. In the procession marched 

 some little beetles, resembling our Coccionella semipunctata. 

 If one of these tries to get out of the line of march it is 

 quickly brought back by the ants at its side (" From 

 America," Leipzig, 1875, I. 275). "In Brazil the place of 

 the Aphides is taken by the larvae and nymphae of certain 

 crickets, namely, of Cercopis and Membracis, which sit on the 

 plant-stalks sucking at the sap, and from time to time 

 excrete from the abdomen a drop of sweet juice which is 

 eagerly licked up by an ant (F. attelaboides), which caresses 

 the cricket and helps it in changing its skin, just as our ants 

 do with the Aphides. When Aphides, which had not pre- 

 viously been there, were introduced into the gardens of Rio 

 Janeiro, the ants soon recognised their useful properties " 

 (Perty, on "The Intellectual Life of Animals," 2nd ed., 

 p. 315). " According to Audubon certain leaf bugs are 

 used as slaves by the ants in the Brazilian forests. When 

 these ants want to bring home the leaves which they have 

 bitten off the trees, they do it by means of a column of these 

 bugs, which go in pairs, kept in order on either side by 

 accompanying ants. They compel stragglers to re-enter the 

 ranks, and laggards to keep up by biting them. After the 

 work is done the bugs are shut up within the colony and 

 scantily fed " (Perty, pp. 329 and 330). 



A species of ant which lives in the same country as the 

 remarkable agricultural species, has earned farthest the art 

 of cattle-keeping and milking. It is the Myrmecocystus 

 mexicanus, discovered thirty years ago by a Belgian 

 naturalist, Wesmael. Among these certain neuter ants, 

 which must belong to a special caste, take the place of the 

 Aphides and Myrmecophila, and so fill their very dilatable 

 iibdomens with honey that they look like little round bottles, 

 : and can be brought to market as an article of commerce. 



" These ants," says Blanchard, " which are very numerous 

 round the town of Dolores and are known in the country 

 under the name of Basileras, live in subterranean dwellings, 

 which do not betray their presence outside. In the earlier 

 part of their life they have an abdomen of the usual size. 

 But it gradually enlarges enormously, owing to the collection 



