the mammalia, man himself feeds upon them--for there are
tribes of Indians in South America, the principal part of whose food
consists of dried termites, which they bake into a kind of "paste!"
There are quadrupeds that live exclusively on them, as the ant-bear
already described, and the _pangolins_, or scaly ant-eaters of the
Eastern continent. There are birds, too, of many sorts that devour the
ants; and there are even some who make them exclusively their food, as
the genus _Myothera_, or "ant-catchers." Many kinds of reptiles, both
snakes and lizards, are ant-eaters; and, what is strangest of all, there
are _insects_ that prey upon them!

No wonder, then, with such a variety of enemies that the ants are kept
within proper limits, and are not allowed to overrun the earth.

The observations just made are very similar to those that were addressed
by Dona Isidora to the little Leona, one day when they were left alone.
The others had gone about their usual occupation of bark-cutting, and
these, of course, remained at home to take care of the house and cook
the dinner. That was already hanging over a fire outside the house; for
in these hot countries it is often more convenient to do the cooking
out-of-doors.

Dona Isidora, busy with some sewing, was seated under the shadow of the
banana-trees, and the pretty little Leona was playing near her. Leona
had been abusing the ants, partly on account of their having so
frightened Leon, and partly because one of the red species had bitten
herself the day before; and it was for this reason that her mother had
entered into such explanations regarding these creatures, with a view of
exculpating them from the bitter accusations urged against them by
Leona. Talking about ants very naturally led them to cast their eyes to
the ground to see if any of the creatures were near; and sure enough
there were several of the red ones wandering about. Just then the eyes
of Dona Isidora rested upon a very different insect, and she drew the
attention of her daughter to it. It was an insect of considerable size,
being full an inch in length, with an elongated oval body, and a small
flat head. From the head protruded two great horny jaws, that bore some
resemblance to a pair of calliper compasses. Its legs were short and
very unfitted for motion. Indeed they were not of much use for that
purpose, as it could make very little way on them, but crawled only
sidewards, or backwards, with grea