The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1915-03-19
STRANGE ARMY
IN BRAZIL
Routed Roosevelt and De-
voured His Shirts.
Terrors Of Jungle Have an Irwin
chile Superb Military
Organization.

to South America, the River of Doubt
was not the most extraordinary; nor
were the snakes, centipedes, scor-
pions and jaguars all that troubled
him, says the New York World OF
all the pests of that grews0me Braz-
ilian jungle, the fierce "Soldado" was
the worst. And the "soldado" is not,
as its name might imply, a bewhis-
kered grenadier, nor a mustached
hussar, nor helmeted Dragon, but
an ant!
An ant that travels in soldierly
phalanxes and columns; that throws
out scouts and fiankers; that has a
commissary department; that is Of
ficered like a regular army; then
wheels and changes front with mill
tary precision; that is an out-and out
cannibal, and fights with the ferocity
of a Bashi- Bazouk!
These, with another specimen
known as the leaf-bearing ant, in
vaded the Colonel's tent, and, after
destroying everything that they could
not carry away. reformed into a SOL
Id square and moved out with dig
nifty and eclat, with the white rem
nants of the Coloners underwear
waving in the breeze by way of tro-
ply banners!
The genus of soldier ant is known
as the eciton. They are subdivided
into many species; but all are pi-
rates, all murderous, and all terrible
to insect and human alike. The eci-
ton vastator and the eciton erratica
are both as blind as the night, the
former having sockets, but no eyes,
and the latter having not a vestige
of either. Yet both are as terrible
as those that can see.
The eciton praedator, a small, dark
ant, slightly reddish underneath, and
varying in length from a fifth to a
third of an inch move out from the
hallow places under rocks. or in the
roots of trees where they live, at GER
tain intervals for one of their forays.
When every ant is out they form into
a solid phalanx comprising countless
thousands of ants, and covering three
or four square yards. When they
have been closely marshaled, and not
a vestige of earth appears between
their squirming bodies, cloud of
fiankers is thrown out on either side
and body Of scouts in front.
When all is ready, there is a fren-
zied wiggling of antennae by the Of
ficers in front, and a wiggling of
those in the rear, and another wig
Cling by those on each side; and
then, as at a concerted signal, the
whole body, phalanx, fankers and
skirmishers moves off over the dry
leaves and twigs.
Their advance sounds like a heavy
pattering of rain. Attracted by this
sound the birds from the nearby trees
hover over them. wheeling and dip
ping and sailing, and darling from
tree to tree as the marauders move
swiftly forward. Why the birds are
so interested in the ants you shall
see presently.
Warned by the fiuttering of the
wings of the birds. and the rustling
of the leaves as the ants advance,
moths, lizards, scorpions centipedes,
turtles, butterflies, ants of other
genuses, rush hither and thither, and
to and fro and up and down, in the
extremity of their terror.
Suddenly the scouts of the ecitons
Suddenly the scouts of the ecitons
strike them. And then what a rend-
ing and tearing! With their cruel,
hooked jaws the ants fall to. Butter
flies are torn to pieces, grasshoppers
have their rear legs snapped of. liz
ards are made mincemeat. and those
insects that have sense enough left to
crawl out to the ends of up-cocked
twigs where the ants cannot follow
hang there in palpitating horror.
And 10! suddenly the advance
guard has passed. But no sooner do
the insects that were hanging to the
twigs fall to the ground in exhaus-
tion than the main body is upon
them and those insects that have the
power and the sense to fly immediate
~ do so. But they do not get far
No sooner are they off the ground
han the birds have them. II is a
choice between Scylla and Charyb-
lis.
When the main body has passed I
he ground is strewn with remains of {
Insects. But they do not lie there I
ong. A smaller body of ants issues
rom the leaves. Here is the commits {
AIRY department. These ants pick {
lp the fragments and bear them of; ;
he bright pieces of butterfly wings