ANT-ARMIES 



473 



requires attentive examination to distinguish them ; yet 

 their armies never intermingle, although moving in the 

 same woods and often crossing each other's tracks. The 

 two classes of workers look, at first sight, quite distinct, 

 on account of the wonderful amount of difference between 

 the largest individuals of the one, and the smallest of the 

 other. There are dwarfs not more than one-fifth of an 

 inch in length, with small heads and jaws, and giants 

 half an inch in length with monstrously enlarged head 

 and jaws, all belonging to the same family. There is not, 

 however, a distinct separation of classes, individuals ex- 

 isting which connect together the two extremes. These 

 Ecitons are seen in the pathways of the forest at all places 

 on the banks of the Amazons, travelling in dense columns 

 of countless thousands. One or other of them is sure to 

 be met with in a woodland ramble, and it is to them 

 probably, that the stories we read in books on South 

 America apply, of ants clearing houses of vermin, although 

 I heard of no instance of their entering houses, their 

 ravages being confined to the thickest parts of the forest. 



When the pedestrian falls in with a train of these ants, 

 the first signal given him is a twittering and restless 

 movement of small flocks of plain-coloured birds (ant- 

 thrushes) in the jungle. If this be disregarded until he 

 advances a few steps further, he is sure to fall into trouble, 

 and find himself suddenly attacked by numbers of the 

 ferocious little creatures. They swarm up his legs with 

 incredible rapidity, each one driving its pincer-like jaws 

 into his skin, and with the purchase thus obtained, 

 doubling in its tail, and stinging with all its might. There 

 is no course left but to run for it ; if he is accompanied 

 by natives they will be sure to give the alarm, crying 

 * Tauoca ! ' and scampering at full speed to the other 

 end of the column of ants. The tenacious insects who 

 have secured themselves to his legs then have to be 

 plucked off one by one, a task which is generally not 

 accomplished without pulling them in twain, and leaving 

 heads and jaws sticking in the wounds. 



The errand of the vast ant-armies is plunder, as in 

 the case of Eciton legionis ; but from their moving al- 

 ways amongst dense thickets, their proceedings are not 

 so easy to observe as in that species. Wherever they 

 move, the whole animal world is set in commotion, and 

 every creature tries to get out of their way. But it is 



