MILITARY ANTS, 
121 
Lastly, there are two species of Eciton totally blind, 
and their habits differ from those of the species which 
we have hitherto considered. Bates writes of them : — 
The armies of E . vastator and E . erratica move, as far as I 
could learn, wholly under covered roads, the ants constructing 
them gradually but rapidly as they advance. The column of 
foragers pushes forward step by step, under the protection of 
these covered passages, through the thickets, and on reaching a 
rotting log, or other promising hunting-ground, pour into the 
crevices in search of booty. I have traced their arcades, occa- 
sionally, for a distance of one or two hundred yards ; the grains 
of earth are taken from the soil over which the column is pass- 
ing, and are fitted together without cement. It is this last- 
mentioned feature that distinguishes them from the similar 
covered roads made by termites, who use their glutinous saliva 
to cement the grains together. The blind Ecitons, working in 
numbers, build up simultaneously the sides of their convex 
arcades, and contrive, in a surprising manner, to approximate 
them and fit in the key-stones without letting the loose un- 
cemented structure fall to pieces. There was a very clear di- 
vision of labour between the two classes of neuters in these 
blind species. The large- headed class, although not possessing 
monstrously lengthened jaws like the worker-majors in E. 
hamata and E. drepanophora , are rigidly defined in structure 
from the smail-heacled class, and act as soldiers, defending the 
working community (like soldier termites) against all comers. 
Whenever I made a breach in one of their covered ways, all 
the ants underneath were set in commotion, but the worker- 
minors remained behind to repair the damage, whilst the large- 
beads issued forth in a most menacing manner, rearing their 
heads and snapping their jaws with an expression of the fiercest 
rage and defiance. 
Anomrna arcens . — This is the so-called 6 driver 9 or 
6 marching J ant of West Africa, which in habits and intel- 
ligence closely resembles the military ants of the other 
hemisphere. I shall therefore not wait again to describe 
these habits in detail. Like the Ecitons, the marching 
ants of Africa have no fixed nest, but make temporary halts 
in the shade of hollow trees, overhanging rocks, &c. 
They march in large armies, and, like the Ecitons, always 
in the form of a long close column ; but in this case the 
relative position of the carriers of spoil and larvae is re- 
