DESTRUCTIVENESS OF THE ANTS 457 



In 1857 the province of Eio de Janeiro voted a reward of $25,000 for 

 the discovery of a means of destroying saiibas}^ 



The growing of oranges, roses, and other flowering plants is similarly 

 interfered with in many places because of the cutting and carrying away 

 of the leaves by the saubas. 



It is impossible to keep things out of their reach on any large scale. 

 Certain devices are used with more or less success for protecting things 

 indoors when they are constantly watched, but standing crops or consid- 

 erable stores require constant watchfulness and war. 



Bates has the following in regard to the saubas in the Amazon region : 



"This ant (the sauia) is seen everywhere about the suburbs, marching to 

 and fro in broad columns. From its habit of despoiling the most valuable cul- 

 tivated trees of their foliage, it is a great scourge to the Brazilians. In some 

 districts it is so abundant that agriculture is almost impossible, and every- 

 \vliere complaints are heard of the terrible pest."^® 



At another place (page 11) he says: 



"Besides injuring and destroying young trees by despoiling them of their 

 foliage, the saiiha ant is troublesome to the inhabitants from its habit of plun- 

 dering the stores of provisions in houses at night, for it is even more active by 

 night than in the daytime. At first I was inclined to discredit the stories of 

 their entering habitations and carrying off grain by grain the farinha, or 

 mandioca meal, the bread of the poorer classes of Brazil. At length, while 

 residing at an Indian village on the Tapajos, I had ample proof of the fact. 

 One night my servant woke me three or four hours before sunrise by calling 

 out that the rats were robbing the farinha baskets, the article at that time 

 being scarce and dear. I got up, listened, and found the noise very unlike that 

 made by rats, so I took the light and went into the storeroom, which was close 

 to my sleeping place. I there found a broad column of sauba ants, consisting 

 of thousands of individuals, as busy as possible, passing to and fro between the 

 door and my precious baskets" (p. 12). "My servant told me that they would 

 carry off the whole contents of the two baskets (about two bushels) in the 

 course of the night if they were not driven off." 



ATTACKS ON MAN 



The formiga de fogo, or fire ants, are so called on account of the pain- 

 fulness of their sting. When they are met with in large numbers there 

 is simply no withstanding them. 



One of the reasons for calling ants the kings, rulers, and owners of the 

 country is due to the vicious attacks they make upon all kinds of ani- 

 mals. Bates tells of one case in which a town on the Tapajos was actually 



18 Auxiliador da Industria Nacional, vol. xxxvii, p. 64. Rio de Janeiro, 1869. 



19 H. W. Bates : The naturalist on the River Amazons, 4th ed., p. 9. London, 1875. 



