RED AND BLACK ANTS. 



47 



them. * I recollect having planted a consider- 

 able quantity of it in some low marshy ground, 

 upon hillocks, and the land was so moist that 

 water remained in the furrows round the bot- 

 tom of each hillock, after the manner of dykes. 

 On this account, I thought it superfluous to 

 desire that any precautions should be taken 

 against the ants ; however, I rode one afternoon 

 to see the field, and was surprised to find that 

 the plants upon some of the hillocks were de- 

 prived of their leaves. I knew by whom this 

 must have been done, but could not for some 

 minutes discover how the insects had been able 

 to reach the mandioc. I soon saw an ant-track 

 and a few of the ants going along it ; I followed 

 the track, and observed that they had formed 

 a bridge of leaves across one of the furrows, 

 upon which they were going over. Some of 

 them crossed to and from the hillock, as I stood 

 watching them. 



There were several other species of ants of 

 less bulk, which were occasionally seen. The 



* It has obtained the name oiformiga de ro ca. The word 

 rofa means literally a piece of land that has been planted, of 

 which the native wood has been cut down and cleared away. 

 But at the present day, in Pernambuco, the word roca is 

 applied to the mandioc plant exclusively ; thus a peasant will 

 say " hum bom rogado de roca" a good field of mandioc. 

 The word rocado is used in speaking of any kind of field ; as 

 for instance, a fine rocado for cotton — a fine rocado for 

 cane, &c. 



