species, but the sting is not so severe as in many of the smaller
kinds. There was nothing peculiar or attractive in the habits of
this giant among the ants. Another far more interesting species
was the Sauba (Oecodoma cephalotes). This ant is seen everywhere
about the suburbs, marching to and fro in broad columns. From its
habit of despoiling the most valuable cultivated trees of their
foliage, it is a great scourge to the Brazilians. In some
districts it is so abundant that agriculture is almost
impossible, and everywhere complaints are heard of the terrible
pest.

The workers of this species are of three orders, and vary in size
from two to seven lines; some idea of them may be obtained from
the accompanying woodcut. The true working-class of a colony is
formed by the small-sized order of workers, the worker-minors as
they are called (Fig. I). The two other kinds, whose functions,
as we shall see, are not yet properly understood, have enormously
swollen and massive heads; in one (Fig. 2), the head is highly
polished; in the other (Fig. 3), it is opaque and hairy. The
worker-minors vary greatly in size, some being double the bulk of
others. The entire body is of very solid consistency, and of a
pale reddish-brown colour. The thorax or middle segment is armed
with three pairs of sharp spines; the head, also, has a pair of
similar spines proceeding from the cheeks behind.

In our first walks we were puzzled to account for large mounds of
earth, of a different colour from the surrounding soil, which
were thrown up in the plantations and woods. Some of them were
very extensive, being forty yards in circumference, but not more
than two feet in height. We soon ascertained that these were the