d up than another rushes out to
take its place--thus, by the sacrifice of themselves, enabling the rest
of the community to seek safety in flight.

SAUBA ANTS.

Of the numerous true ants which exist in all parts of Tropical America,
the sauba is one of the most remarkable. In all parts of the country--
as well near the abodes of man as in the distant wilds--large mounds are
seen, two feet in length, and often upwards of forty yards in
circumference, and distinguished from the surrounding soil by the
difference of colour. Yet these mounds are merely the domes or upper
works of the vast subterranean galleries which run for enormous
distances and to great depths below the surface. Unlike the termites,
the armies go forth in open daylight in vast hordes, to obtain food or
materials for the construction of their wonderful habitations.
Sometimes, many hundred yards away from these mounds, the whole ground
seems covered with animated leaves, each of the size of a sixpence,
moving at a steady pace over the ground. Each leaf is held vertically
in the mandibles of an ant, which is conveying it for the purpose of
thatching the domes which cover the entrance to its subterranean abode;
the roof thus formed protecting the cells beneath, rilled with young,
from the heavy rains. Going in the direction whence the army is seen
coming, we may find a tree covered by innumerable multitudes employed in
cutting off leaves. Here the labourers are protected by the warrior
class, who appear also to perform the duties of overlookers, and keep
them to their tasks. Each ant, on gaining a leaf, commences with its
scissor-like jaws to make a semicircular incision on the upper side. It
then takes it into its jaws, and detaches it by a sharp jerk. Having
done this, it descends to the ground, and joining its comrades, who have
been similarly employed, they return with their loads to the colony.
Frequently, however, while an ant is up the tree, the piece of leaf
falls to the ground, when it sets to work to cut off another; while
fresh labourers appear, to carry away the pieces which have thus
accumulated.

The sauba ants are greatly dreaded by the inhabitants, as they
frequently attack their coffee and orange-trees, and utterly destroy
them. Sometimes, indeed, plantations have to be abandoned in
consequence of the inroads of these persevering insects.

The body of the sauba ant is of a pale reddish-brown colour, and of a
solid consistency.