124 Notes on the Leaf-cutting Ants of Trinidad. (February, 
seemingly animated leaves marching across the roads. Com- 
plaints are heard on every hand of their ravages among the gar- 
dens and plantations. Agriculture is all but hopeless in sections 
infested by these pests, since although they occasionally attack 
one of the forest trees, they show a decided preference for the 
leaves of cultivated trees and garden plants, the cocoa, coffee and 
orange being particularly subject to their destructive visits. They 
seem also to develop a “penchant” for particular trees. One 
orange tree in a grove of the same species is stripped again and 
again, while the neighboring trees are left untouched. The 
curious habit these ants possess of cutting and carrying off im- 
mense quantities of leaves, has often been noted in books on 
natural history, although the question is still an open one as to 
the object of the custom and the disposal of the cut leaves. My 
own observations on these points I shall give farther on. 
The speed with which these little workers operate is indeed 
marvelous. A good sized mango tree, at least as large as an 
average apple tree, I saw stripped of every leaf in one night, and 
greater feats than this are recorded of these “ Tourmi Ciseaux,” 
as they are called by the Creoles. In the morning the naked 
boughs bore only the bare midrib of the leaves with here and 
there jagged portions of the parenchyma left by the circular 
pieces snipped off. The ground was littered with circular pieces 
of leaves about the size of a ten-cent piece, which the ants had 
neglected to carry off. Old leaves and young had alike been 
snipped off, but most of the pieces left were cut from the older 
leaves. 
During the day I discovered the formicarium to which these 
ants belonged, some three or four hundred yards up the mount- 
ain side. It was situated on a gently sloping incline covered 
by a dense “ vastrajo,” or second-growth wood. The site of the 
hill had been well chosen in a spot free from large trees, and the 
smaller bushes had been removed, leaving the soil as bare as if 
_ 7 the vegetation had been destroyed by a fire. The mound was of 
immense size, being about forty-five feet across and about two 
feet high. The soil was of a different color from that of the sur- 
rounding hillside, and consisted, I found, of clayey granules 
brought up by the ants from the subsoil below. No signs of ants 
were visible, nor were any recently used entrances to be seen. 
Several tunnels extended a short distance into the mound, but 
aia ney mena onc ” 
