Chap. in. THE PISOTE — ANTS. 43 
by this unnatural diet, or that the green colour of the 
chocollitos contributed to the result, one day our deer 
seized one of the little birds in his mouth, and before rescue 
was possible, ate it alive. From that time the deer followed 
the savage instincts of a beast of prey, feeding on parrots, 
ducks, and chickens, till at last we found ourselves under 
the necessity of parting with its dangerous company. 
We had another mischievous animal in our house, called 
pisote. A recent author on Central America has identified 
the pisote with the racoon, but this is a mistake. The 
pisote is the Nasua fusca. This animal becomes perfectly 
tame, but neither precaution nor chastisement will prevent 
it from doing mischief. Just now it had killed a chicken, 
and was chained up in consequence. Suddenly, while we 
were sitting at breakfast, it came from some unexpected 
quarter, dragging its chain after it, leaping on the table, 
overturning the sugar-bowl and scattering the sugar 
around, dipping its long bushy tail in our cups and 
whisking it in our faces. The offender was chastised most 
unmercifully and closely confined, but a few minutes after 
it appeared again quite contented, with a young chicken in 
its mouth. The criminal was threatened with instantaneous 
death, but escaped over the roof of the house, and soon 
after the cook discovered him committing ravages in the 
pantry. 
I had several opportunities of observing the manners of 
several kinds of ants living in the houses. All of them 
are very inoffensive and even useful creatures. On one 
occasion I witnessed a remarkable instance of the concerted 
and organised action of a crowd of them. They were of 
a minute species, but by the wonderful order and ex- 
pediency in which they worked together, and which it 
would have been difficult to realise with men, they sue- 
