462 J. C. BRANNER GEOLOGIC WORK OF AKTS 



their entering houses, their ravages being confined to the thicliest parts of the 

 forest. 



"When the pedestrian falls in with a train of these ants, the first signal 

 given him is a twittering and restless movement of small flocks of plain- 

 colored birds (ant thrushes) in the jungle. If this be disregarded until he 

 advances a few steps farther, he is sure to fall into trouble, and find himself 

 suddenly attacked by numbers of the ferocious little creatures. They swarm 

 up his legs with incredible rapidity, each one driving its pincer-like jaws into 

 his skin, and with the purchase thus obtained, doubling in its tail, and sting- 

 ing with all its might. There is no course left but to run for it ; if he is 

 accompanied by natives, they will be sure to give the alarm, crying, 'Tauoca !' 

 and scampering at full speed to the other end of the column of ants. The 

 tenacious insects who have secured themselves to his legs then have to be 

 plucked otf one by one, a task which is generally not accomplished without 

 pulling them in twain, and leaving heads and jaws sticking in the wounds. 



"The errand of the vast ant armies is plunder, as in the case of Eoiton 

 legions ; but from their moving always amongst dense thickets, their proceed- 

 ings are not so easy to observe as in that species. Wherever they move, the 

 whole animal world is set in commotion, and every creature tries to get out of 

 their way. But it is especially the various tribes of wingless insects that 

 have cause for fear, such as heavy-bodied spiders, ants of other species, mag- 

 gots, caterpillars, larvse of cockroaches, and so forth, all of which live under 

 fallen leaves or in decaying wood. The Ecitons do not mount very high on 

 trees, and therefore the nestlings of birds are not much incommoded by them. 



"The armies never march far on a beaten path, but seem to prefer the en- 

 tangled thickets, where it is seldom possible to follow them. I have traced an 

 army sometimes for half a mile or more, but was never able to find one that 

 had finished its day's course and returned to its hive. Indeed, I never met 

 with a hive : whenever the Ecitons were seen they were always on the march" 

 (p. 355). 



ANTS AS FOOD 



In the Amazon region some of the ants are even nsed by the Indians 

 for food. 



"I have many times seen Indians eat the sauha ant (called hachdco in Vene- 

 zuela). The large kinds only are eaten, and at those times when the bachacos 

 pour from their holes in great numbers (probably sending forth colonies after 

 the manner of bees), if it be near any pueblo, all the unoccupied Indians in the 

 place turn out to collect them. The head and thorax are the parts eaten, the 

 abdomen being nipped off (at San Carlos I constantly see them eaten entire), 

 and it is eaten uncooked. The taste to me is strong, fiery, and disagreeable, 

 but those who have eaten the bachaco fried in turtle oil tell me it is quite 

 palatable."^'' 



In the more thickly settled parts of Brazil the custom of eating these 

 ants is either not practiced nowadays, or, if it is, it is not generally known. 



23 Richard Spruce : Notes of a botanist on the Amazon and Andes, vol. i, p. 484. Lon- 

 don, 1908. 



