MILITARY ANTS. 
117 
rades to lift out the bodies of tile Formicse, and others tearing 
them in pieces, on account of their weight being too great for a 
single Eciton ; a number of carriers seizing each a fragment, 
and carrying it off down the slope. 
These Ecitons have no fixed nest themselves, but live, 
as it were, on a perpetual campaign. At night, however, 
thej call a halt and pitch a camp. For this purpose they 
usually select a piece of broken ground, in the interstices 
of which they temporarily store their plunder. In the 
morning the army is again on the march, and before an 
hour or two has passed not a single ant is to be seen 
where the countless multitudes had previously covered 
the ground. 
Another and larger species of Eciton (E. hamata) 
hunts sometimes in dense armies, and sometimes in 
columns, according to the kind of prey of which they are 
in search. When in columns they are seeking for the 
nests of a certain species of ant which have their young 
in holes of rotten logs. These Ecitons when seeking for 
these nests hunt about, like those just described, in 
columns, which branch off* in various directions. When a 
fallen log is reached, the column spreads over it, search- 
ing through all the holes and cracks. Mr. Belt says of 
them : — * 
The workers are of various sizes, and the smallest are here 
of use, for they squeeze themselves into the narrowest holes, 
and search out their prey in the furthest ramifications of the 
nests. When a nest of the Hypoclinea is attacked, the ants 
rush out, carrying the larvse and pupae in their jaws, but are 
immediately despoiled of them by the Ecitons, which are run- 
ning about in every direction with great swiftness. Whenever 
they come across a Hypoclinea carrying a larva or pupa, they 
take it from it so quickly, that I could never ascertain exactly 
how it was done. 
As soon as an Eciton gets hold of its prey, it rushes off back 
along the advancing column, which is composed of two sets, 
one hurrying forward, the other returning laden with their 
booty, but all and always in the greatest haste and apparent 
hurrv. About the nest which they are harrying, all appears in 
confusion, Ecitons running here and there and everywhere in 
the greatest haste and disorder \ but the result of all this ap* 
