ACROSS UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA 
or ten times its own size and weight. In many cases those 
working aloft cut the leaves and drop them on the 
ground, where other carriers are waiting to convey them 
away. So numerous are the sauhas that in the forest one 
can hear distinctly the incessant rustling sound of their 
clippers at work. They use the leaves in order to con¬ 
struct thatched waterproof roofs over the domes and 
turrets at the entrances of their extensive subterranean 
galleries, which would otherwise become flooded during 
the torrential rains prevalent in those latitudes. The 
roofs are constructed with wonderful skill, each leaf being 
held in its place by granules of earth. The galleries, of 
immense length and much ramified, are often as much 
as ten to fifteen centimeters in diameter. The entrances 
to them are usually kept blocked, and are only opened 
when necessary. Above ground the sauhas make won¬ 
derful wide roads, thousands of which can be seen every¬ 
where in the forest, and upon which endless processions 
go by day and night. The workers of these insects can 
be divided into three orders not very clearly defined, as 
units of intermediate grades are constantly met. The 
largest of those workers possess extraordinarily massive, 
double-humped heads, highly polished in the case of 
members which are visible on the surface, and dull and 
hairy in the giant fellows which spend their lives within 
the subterranean passages. These hairy saubas display 
a single frontal eye not found in any of the other orders, 
and, as far as I know, in no other kind of ant. They 
never come to the surface except when attacks are made 
upon the galleries. Great excitement is shown in the 
colonies when the winged ants, of extra large size — 
especially the females—start out on their errand of 
propagating the race. 
The workers with polished heads — fierce-looking 
brutes — do very little actual work, but seem to be the 
superiors and protectors of the smaller workers. In every 
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