The Orders
Orthoptera And Hemiptera Are Particularly Numerous; As
Likewise Is The Stinging Division Of The Hymenoptera The Bees,
Perhaps, Being Excepted.
A person, on first entering a tropical
forest, is astonished at the labours of the ants:
Well-beaten
paths branch off in every direction, on which an army
of never-failing foragers may be seen, some going forth, and
others returning, burdened with pieces of green leaf, often
larger than their own bodies.
A small dark-coloured ant sometimes migrates in countless
numbers. One day, at Bahia, my attention was drawn
by observing many spiders, cockroaches, and other insects,
and some lizards, rushing in the greatest agitation across
a bare piece of ground. A little way behind, every stalk and
leaf was blackened by a small ant. The swarm having
crossed the bare space, divided itself, and descended an old
wall. By this means many insects were fairly enclosed; and
the efforts which the poor little creatures made to extricate
themselves from such a death were wonderful. When the
ants came to the road they changed their course, and in
narrow files reascended the wall. Having placed a small
stone so as to intercept one of the lines, the whole body
attacked it, and then immediately retired. Shortly afterwards
another body came to the charge, and again having failed
to make any impression, this line of march was entirely
given up. By going an inch round, the file might have
avoided the stone, and this doubtless would have happened,
if it had been originally there:
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