Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 5.djvu/101

Rh strange indeed if these conditions found no expression in those modifications of both form and habit which secure safety to the creature, and afford means of defense as well as of attack.

The well-known habit of animals in making their nests or burrows in places of safety was noticed in a species of birds which build their nests in bushes infested by stinging ants: a small parrot builds in a hole made in the nests of the termites, and a small fly-catcher builds alongside of the nests of one of the wasps.

The account given of the foraging ants (Ecitons) is most interesting. They live solely on insects and similar prey; ransack houses, and clear them of insects of every kind. They appear to be without fixed abodes, and advance in columns three or four yards wide, with flank, advance, and rear columns, millions in number. Their presence is announced by the noise of birds, as trogons, ant-thrushes, and others, which follow them for the insects which take wing, terrified by their destroyers. Grasshoppers, cockroaches, and others, are seized, bitten in pieces, and the fragments conveyed to the rear of the columns.

The temporary abodes of these ants seem to be a crevice or dense mass of brushwood, but in a few days they are off to new grounds. Small parties ascend trees in search of wasps' nests, and, if found, information is conveyed to the swarms below, when a column ascends, takes possession of the nest, and devours or removes the young, the wasps being powerless before the multitude.

While ants which hunt singly have eyes well developed, the eyes of the Ecitons are small, imperfect, and in some species wanting, and they evidently follow each other by scent. This was shown in the following manner: A party or column following a leader will become distracted if his track, which they will follow in its minutest windings, is interfered with. Mr. Belt scraped away the clay which the leader had gone over, and the followers were completely at fault until they had gone around the scraped portion, when, on striking the trail again, their hesitation vanished, and they followed it with the greatest confidence.

They aid each other in difficulty with a sympathy and intelligence that are extraordinary, and overcome dangers of very rare occurrence. On one being partially buried with atoms of clay, the others removed them; a small lump, too heavy for them to move, was instantly bitten to pieces, a dozen or more being summoned to assist. They aid each other in ascending steep places, in crossing water, and in every movement afford evidence of wonderful social order.

Not less interesting than these were the leaf-cutting ants (Œcodoma) common in tropical America. Their order, sagacity, and underground abodes, were a subject of wonder and study. All introduced species of trees are directly attacked by them, and, unless carefully watched, are destroyed. Mr. Belt turned the tide of war by pouring a strong solution of carbolic acid, in water, into their formicaries; straightway