Page:The naturalist on the River Amazons 1863 v2.djvu/367

 absent or very sparingly represented on the Lower Amazons within reach of the trade winds. The range of these nineteen genera is affected by a curiously complicated set of circumstances. In all the species of which they are composed, the males are more than 100 to one more numerous than the females, and being very richly coloured, whilst the females are of dull hues, they spend their lives in sporting about in the sunlight, imbibing the moisture which constitutes their food, from the mud on the shores of streams, their spouses remaining hid in the shades of the forest. The very existence of these species depends on the facilities which their males have for indulgence in the pleasures of this sunshiny life. The greatest obstacle to this is the prevalence of strong winds, which not only dries rapidly all moisture in open places, but prevents the richly-attired dandies from flying daily to their feeding-places. I noticed this particularly whilst residing at Santarem, where the moist margins of water, localities which on the Upper Amazons swarm with these insects, were nearly destitute of them; and at Villa Nova (where a small number exists) I have watched them buffeting with the strong winds at the commencement of the dry season, and, as the dryness increased, disappearing from the locality. On ascending the Tapajos to the calm and sultry banks of the Cuparí, a great number of these insects re-appeared, most of them being the same as those found on the Upper Amazons, thus showing clearly that their existence in the district depended on the absence of winds.

Before proceeding to describe the ants, a few remarks