8542 



Notices of New Boohs. 



could be repaired. In the Botanic Gardens at Para an enterprising 

 French gardener tried all he could think of to extirpate the Saiiba. 

 With this object he made fires over some of the main entrances to their 

 colonies, and blew the fumes of sulphur down the galleries by means of 

 bellows. I saw the smoke issue from a great number of outlets, one 

 of which was seventy yards distant from the place where the bellows 

 were used. This shows how extensively the underground galleries are 

 ramified. 



" Besides injuring and destroying young trees by despoiling them of 

 their foliage, the Saiiba ant is troublesome to the inhabitants from its 

 habit of plundering the stores of provisions in houses at night, for it 

 is even more active by night than in the daytime. At first 1 was 

 inclined to discredit the stories of their entering habitations and 

 carrying off grain by grain the farinha or mandioca meal, the bread of 

 the poorer classes of Brazil. At length, whilst residing at an Indian 

 village on the Tapajos, I had ample proof of the fact. One night my 

 servant woke me three or four hours before sunrise, by calling out that 

 the rats were robbing the farinha baskets ; the article at that time was 

 scarce and dear. I got up and listened, and found the noise was very 

 unlike that made by rats ; so I took the light and went into the store 

 room, which was close to my sleeping-place. I there found a broad 

 column of Saiiba ants, consisting of thousands of individuals, as busy 

 as possible, passing to and fro between the door and my precious 

 baskets. Most of those passing outwards were laden each with a 

 grain of farinha, which was in some cases larger and many times heavier 

 than the bodies of the carriers. Farinha consists of grains of similar 

 size and appearance"to the tapioca of our shops; both are products 

 of the same root, tapioca being the pure starch and farinha the starch 

 mixed with woody fibre, the latter ingredient giving it a yellowish 

 colour. It was amusing to see some of the dwarfs, the smallest mem- 

 bers of the family, staggering along completely hidden by their load. 

 The baskets, which were on a high table, were completely covered 

 with ants, many hundreds of whom were employed in snipping the 

 dry leaves which served as lining. This produced the rustling sound 

 which had at first disturbed us. My servant told me that they would 

 carry off the whole contents of the two baskets (about two bushels) in 

 the course of the night if they were not driven off ; so we tried to 

 exterminate them by killing them with our wooden clogs. It was 

 impossible, however, to prevent fresh hosts coming in as fast as we 

 killed their companions. They returned the next night, and I was 

 then obliged to lay trains of gunpowder along their line, and blow 



