182 ANTS AND ANT LIFE. 



their customs and arrangements. On the return of a robber 

 ant army to its dwelling, Bates also observed that the un- 

 laden ants helped their laden comrades to climb a steep 

 wall. 



The most common species are E. hamata and E. drepano- 

 phora, which traverse the forests along the banks of the 

 Amazon in thick columns of countless thousands. The 

 first sign which warns the foot passenger of their approach 

 is the restless fluttering round of a number of ant-eating 

 birds. If he overlooks this sign and goes on for a few steps, 

 he is certain to find himself suddenly seized by thousands of 

 tiny furious creatui-es, biting and stinging as hard as they 

 can. Rapid flight is the only means of salvation, and the 

 ants have to be pulled off the skin one by one, often leaving 

 head and mandibles in the wound. 



All living things, therefore, that are within their reach 

 fly unresistingly out of their way. Unwinged insects, such 

 as spiders, caterpillars, crickets, larva, other ants, etc., have 

 the gravest reasons for escaping ; only the birds and their 

 broods are safer, for the Eciton does not love climbing tall 

 trees. The main column, four to six deep, marches con- 

 stantly forward in a given direction, clearing its road of all 

 living or dead animals as it goes, and sending out from time 

 to time small side columns, which return to the main body 

 after completing their plundering. If a specially good 

 supply of prey is found, as for instance a heap of rotten 

 wood with many insect larvae, a halt is made, and all that 

 is edible is devoured. When they seize wasps' nests, which 

 are sometimes placed on low bushes, they gnaw off the 

 coverings of the larvae, pupze, and new-born wasps, and tear 

 them all in pieces, untroubled by the furious owners flying 

 round them. When the booty is carried off, the various 

 pieces are apportioned according to strength ; the small ants 

 take the smallest and the large the heaviest loads. Some- 

 times two ants combine to carry a large burden. The 

 soldiers, or workers major, with their heavy distorted jaws, 

 alone take no share in this labor. The army never follows 

 a trodden road but marches through the most impenetrable 

 underwood. Bates never saw them turn back, but always 

 on the march, and he failed to find any of their nests. 



One day, at Villa Nuova, Bates saw at a favorable spot 

 one of these columns sixty or seventy yards in length, 



