FORAGING ANTS . 
217 
portion of the comb on the small central pillar is still left 
uncovered. 
As this box had been so successful, another was prepared on 
the same principle, and the wasps were permitted to reside in 
it for the same number of days, in which time they produced an 
equally beautiful but rather more massive nest. In hopes that 
the wasps might make a still more splendid nest, a much larger 
box was fitted up, and the insects transferred to it. As by this 
time the autumn was closing in, and the weather became cold, 
the wasps could do but little work, and in a short time they 
died. 
Thus, in the wonderfully short space of thirty-eight days, six 
elaborate and beautiful nests had been made by a single brood 
of wasps, and it is probable that if the original nest had been 
taken at an earlier period of the year, they would have made a 
still larger number. 
In Mr. Bates’s valuable work on the natural history of the 
Amazons, there is an interesting account of the proceedings of 
certain ants belonging to the genus E tit on, and which are 
popularly classed together under the name of Foraging Ants. 
These insects have often been confounded with the Saiiba or 
parasol ant, although they belong to different groups and have 
different habits. The native name for them is Tauoca. There 
are many species belonging to this genus, and I shall therefore 
restrict myself to those which seem to have the most interesting 
habits, giving at the same time a general sketch of their cha- 
racter. I regret that, as in so many other cases, the lack of 
popular names forces me to employ the scientific titles by 
which the insects are known to naturalists. 
Although in the Eoitons there are the three classes of males, 
females, and neuters, these neuters are not divided into two 
distinct sets as in the Termites, but are found in regular 
gradations of size. The real Foraging Ant is Etiton drepano- 
phora, and it is this insect which is so annoying and yet so use- 
ful to house-holders. The ants sally forth in vast columns, at 
least a hundred yards in length, though not of very great width. 
