SAUBA ANTS. 545 



derful habitations. Sometimes, many hundred yards away 

 from these mounds, the whole ground seems covered with 

 animated leaves, each of the size of a sixpence, moving at a 

 steady pace over the ground. Each leaf is held vertically in 

 the mandibles of an ant, which is conveying it for the purpose 

 of thatching the domes which cover the entrance to its sub- 

 terranean abode ; the roof thus formed protecting the cells 

 beneath, tilled with young, from the heavy rains. Going in 

 the direction whence the army is seen coming, we may find a 

 tree covered by innumerable multitudes employed in cutting 

 off leaves. Here the labourers are protected by the warrior 

 class, who appear also to perform the duties of overlookers, 

 and keep them to their tasks. Each ant, on gaining a leaf, 

 commences with its scissor-like jaws to make a semicircular 

 incision on the upper side. It then takes it into its jaws, and 

 detaches it by a sharp jerk. Having done this, it descends 

 to the ground, and joining its comrades, wdio have been 

 similarly employed, they return with their loads to the colony. 

 Frequently, however, while an ant is up the tree, the piece of 

 leaf falls to the ground, wdien it sets to work to cut off an- 

 other ; while fresh labourers appear, to carry away the pieces 

 which have thus accumulated. 



The sauba ants are greatly dreaded by the inhabitants, as 

 they frequently attack their coffee and orange trees, and 

 utterly destroy them. Sometimes, indeed, plantations have 

 to be abandoned in consequence of the inroads of these per- 

 severing insects. 



The body of the sauba ant is of a pale reddish-brown 

 colour, and of a solid consistency. The head is armed with 

 a pair of sharp spines, while the thorax has three pairs of the 

 same character. 



(379, 35 



