NOTES ON MEXICAN ANTS. 63 
~~ frees of their leaves, like the GEcodoma. On the contrary, it 
ae Dales potoi a meet of noxious insects, and so recom- 
— ha, s jiself to plant while it merits the attention of 
ento mologi oaks bia ‘the singularity of its habits, and the ob- 
seurity which yet reigns about its history.” — 
In relation to the pmen of these major workers with long 
mandibles, Mr. Bates writes (British Museum Catalogue of 
Hymenoptera, Vol. VI, p.149) of a South American species : 
“I am quite convinced that these large-headed ones are a 
distinct order of individuals in a colony of Ecitons, and fulfil 
some distinct, peculiar functions.” “I once saw on a beach 
a dense column of Ecitons descending from the rocks on one 
side of the harbor, traversing the beach and climbing again on 
the opposite side; the length of the column visible was from 
_ sixty to seventy yards, and yet there was no appearance of 
the van or the rear of the army. It was probably a migra- 
tion, as all the small-headed individuals carried in their 
mandibles a cluster of white maggots, probably larve of 
their own species.” “The large-headed individuals were in 
proportion of perhaps about fve i in one hundred to the small 
individuals, but not one of them carried anything in its man- 
dibles. They were all trotting along outside fy the column, 
and distributed in regular proportion throughout the whole 
line, their globular white heads rendering them quite con- 
spicuous among the rest, bobbing up and down as they trav- 
ersed the inequalities of the road.” 
All of the Ecitons seem to prey upon living objects. It 
seems probable that animal food is converted into nourish- 
ment for their larve by comminution, as in other species is 
the case with vegetable matter. _ Mr. Bates observes “that 




ad 


cies, the . predator, n dense masses. “The entire 
phalanx, when passing over a teal of open ground, occupies 

