Page:The naturalist on the River Amazons 1863 v2.djvu/376

 trotted along empty-handed, now turned to assist their comrades with their heavy loads, and the whole descended into a spacious gallery or mine, opening on the top of the termitarium. I did not try to reach the nest, which I supposed to lie at the bottom of the broad mine, and therefore in the middle of the base of the stony hillock.

Eciton drepanophora.—The commonest species of foraging ants are the Eciton hamata and E. drepanophora, two kinds which resemble each other so closely that it requires attentive examination to distinguish them;

yet their armies never intermingle, although moving in the same woods and often crossing each other's tracks. The two classes of workers look, at first sight, quite distinct, on account of the wonderful amount of difference between the largest individuals of the one, and the smallest of the other. There are dwarfs not more than one-fifth of an inch in length, with small heads and jaws, and giants half an inch in length with monstrously enlarged head and jaws, all belonging to