182 CRUISE OF THE BARRERA 



a high degree of civilization in their well-ordered 

 communal existence. They understand the value 

 of division of labor, maintain a police force, raise 

 crops, and store the residue against famine. In- 

 deed, most of the essential features of man's civil- 

 ization finds a counterpart in the lives of these 

 extraordinary creatures. Termite nests occupied 

 forks in some of the trees and their sheltered run- 

 ways marked many of the trunks. Large solitary 

 ants with black thorax and red abdomen ranged 

 about like solitary bandits seeking their prey. 

 Numerous other species of smaller ants were en- 

 countered living in colonies under stones and in 

 rotting wood; groups of nervous yellow wasps 

 clung to their hexagonal larval cells attached to 

 leaves, and were busily building them out with 

 gray vegetable pulp prepared in their mouths. 

 This little ridge of dry rocky land was the richest 

 insect locality we had seen. Of birds there were 

 also many, although in this respect the place was 

 not notable. 



Of land-shells we collected two small Urocoptids, 

 some small operculates, including a lovely little 

 Helicina ; a peculiar form of Cepolis ( C. cubensis 

 jaudenesi) was sparingly taken. None of us had 



