Ch. XVn.] ANTS. 291 



left the sand, and go on making their pellets until the water 

 returns again. The first ripple washes all their pellets away, 

 and turns their holes into little funnel-shaped pits. 



Of all insects none surely are so numerous or so ubi- 

 quitous as the Ants, of which there are numerous species 

 in tropical regions, from the small red ants only just 

 visible, to the large black ones (Formica gigas) fully 

 three-quarters of an inch, and even an inch, long, which 

 frequent woods, and which I saw at the back of Singapore 

 island. When one gets fatigued with walking (and the 

 naturalist must walk) it is impossible to sit down any where ; 

 for if we sit in the sun we get rapidly baked, and if we sit 

 in the shade we either sit at once in the midst of a com- 

 munity of ants of some species or other ; or even if we first 

 carefully examine the place, and think we have discovered 

 a spot which is clear of them, we shall inevitably find the 

 busy insects walking over us in a few minutes, probably 

 brown ants half an inch long, armed with formidable pincers, 

 which they will freely use without waiting for provoca- 

 tion. Even upon the sandy beach, where we might suppose 

 ourselves free from such persecution, the ants follow, bent on 

 foraging expeditions. Thus, on the shore at Johore, I ob- 

 served large biting ants of a light brown colour swarming 

 about below high water mark; and on the upper parts of the 

 sands, among the drift, I have frequently remarked them. 



It is a common circumstance to see in Singapore and 

 in Borneo, among the foliage of small trees, a number 

 of the leaves, sometimes green, sometimes brown, gathered 

 together into a huge ball as big as one's head, about which 

 under ordinary circumstances no ants are visible; but a 

 smart blow upon the fabric is immediately followed by the 

 appearance of swarms of brown ants of a large size, which 



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