ECITONS. 65° 
ants are blind. They emerge, however, principally by 
night, and like some of the blind hunting ants of 
Brazil (Zciton vastator and LE. erratica), well described 
by Bates, prefer to move under covered galleries, which 
they construct rapidly as they advance. ‘The column 
of foragers pushes forward step by step, under the 
protection of these covered passages, through the 
thickets, and on. reaching a rotting log, or other 
promising hunting ground, pour into the crevices in 
search of booty.’ 
The marauding troops of Ecitons may, in some 
cases, be described as armies. ‘Wherever they move,’ 
says Bates,? ‘the whole animal world is set in commo- 
tion, 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, maggots, caterpillars, larve 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 mode of 
operation of these armies, which I ascertained, only 
after long-continued observation, is as follows: The 
main column, from four to six deep, moves forward in 
a given direction, clearing the ground of all animal 
matter dead or alive, and throwing off, here and there, 
a thinner column to forage for a short time on the 
1 The Naturalist on the River Amazon, vol, ii. p. 364. 
% Tbid., p. 358. 
