104 



Some of these tropical ant-hills are so large and nu- 

 merous that the colony of their houses resembles a 

 small village. When travelers approach the mounds 

 the inmates come out in a great rage, and do all in 

 their power to molest them. Some ants are winged 

 and are able to fly like other insects. These little ants 

 are great for carrying or dragging things they have 

 found to their homes. Often may they be seen draw- 

 ing something three times larger than themselves, but 

 they get along very briskly: taking hold of the object 

 by their mouth they bear it away, sometimes going for- 

 wards, then backwards, then sideways over grass or 

 other object until they reach their destiny. 



In connection with ants it will be proper to men- 

 tion the ant lion, which is not a large beast, but a small 

 bug-like unpretending insect. It is more frequently 

 met with in dusty places, where its little pits may be 

 found, several of them together. The insect is rather 

 small, of a dirty brown color. It makes pits in the 

 dust the shape of a funnel, narrowing at the bottom, 

 where the little lion hides himiself ; and when an ant or 

 other small insect falls into the pit he springs out of 

 the dust and devours it. The smoothness of these pits 

 is remarkable, formed in the dust as they are. 

 There is nothing very attractive about the owner, but 

 his trap is interesting. Nature's law is always carried 

 out. Where anything is deficient, it is abundantly 

 made up in other ways. 



SCORPIOKS. 



These are very formidable and dangerous insects, es- 

 pecially the larger ones. They are very plenteous in 



