474 



ANIMALS OF EGA 



especially the various tribes of wingless insects that have 

 cause for fear, such as heavy-bodied spiders, ants of other 

 species, maggots, caterpillars, larvae of cockroaches and so 

 forth, all of which live under fallen leaves, or in decaying 

 wood. The Ecitons do not mount very high on trees, 

 and therefore the nestlings of birds are not much incom- 

 moded by them. The mode of operation of these armies, 

 which I ascertained only after long-continued observation, 

 is as follows. The main column, from four to six deep, 

 moves forward in a given direction, clearing the ground 

 of all animal matter dead or alive, and throwing off here 

 and there, a thinner column to forage for a short time on 

 the flanks of the main army, and re-enter it again after 

 their task is accomplished. If some very rich place be 

 encountered anywhere near the line of march, for example, 

 a mass of rotten wood abounding in insect larvae, a delay 

 takes place, and a very strong force of ants is concentrated 

 upon it. The excited creatures search every cranny and 

 tear in pieces all the large grubs they drag to light. It is 

 curious to see them attack wasps' nests, which are some- 

 times built on low shrubs. They gnaw away the papery 

 covering to get at the larvae, pupae, and newly-hatched 

 wasps, and cut everything to tatters, regardless of the 

 infuriated owners which are flying about them. In bearing 

 off their spoil in fragments, the pieces are apportioned to 

 the carriers with some degree of regard to fairness of load : 

 the dwarfs taking the smallest pieces, and the strongest 

 fellows with small heads the heaviest portions. Some- 

 times two ants join together in carrying one piece, but 

 the worker-majors with their unwieldy and distorted 

 jaws, are incapacitated from taking any part in the 

 labour. The armies never march far on a beaten path, 

 but seem to prefer the entangled thickets where it is 

 seldom possible to follow them. I have traced an army 

 sometimes for half a mile or more, but was never able to 

 find one that had finished its day's course and returned 

 to its hive. Indeed, I never met with a hive ; whenever 

 the Ecitons were seen, they were always on the march. 



I thought one day, at Villa Nova, that I had come 

 upon a migratory horde of this indefatigable ant. The 

 place was a tract of open ground near the river side, just 

 outside the edge of the forest, and surrounded by rocks 

 and shrubbery. A dense column of Ecitons was seen 

 extending from the rocks on one side of the little haven. 



