ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.

northward; and, with the aid of a light breeze, they overtook us at a rate of ten or fifteen miles an hour. The main body filled the air from a height of twenty feet to that, as it appeared, of two or three thousand above the ground; " and the

sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle;" or rather, I should say, like a strong breeze passing through the rigging of a ship. They were not so thick together but that they could escape a stick waved backward and forward. The poor cottagers in vain

BRAZIL.

attempted, by lighting fires, by shouts, and by waving branches, to ward off the attack. When the locusts alighted they were more numerous than the leaves in the field, and the surface became reddish instead of green. Locusts are not an uncommon pest in this country; already, during this season, several smaller swarms had come up from the south, where, as apparently in all other parts of the world, they are bred in the deserts.

THE ANT.

A SMALL dark-colored ant sometimes migrates in great 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

BRAZIL.

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. When I placed a small stone so as to intercept one of the lines, the whole body attacked it, and then immediately retired. Shortly afterward 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 there in the beginning; but having been attacked, the lion-hearted little warriors scorned the idea of yielding.

THE WASP.

I WAS much interested one day by watching, in the neighborhood of Rio, a deadly contest between a Pepsis and a large spider of the genus Lycosa. The wasp made a sudden dash at its prey, and then flew away: the spider was evidently wounded, for, trying to escape, it rolled down a little slope, but had still strength enough to crawl into a thick tuft of grass. The wasp soon returned, and seemed surprised at not finding its victim at once. It then commenced as regular a hunt as ever hound did after fox; mak

ing short half-circuits, and all the time rapidly vibrat ing its wings and antennæ. The spider, though well hidden, was soon discovered; and the wasp, evidently still afraid of its jaws, inflicted two stings on the under side of its thorax. At last, carefully examining with its antennæ the now motionless spider, it proceeded to drag

ENGLAND.

away the body. But I stopped both tyrant and prey.

THE SPIDER.

It is well known that most British spiders, when a large insect is caught in their webs, try to cut the lines and set free their prey, to save their nets from being entirely spoiled. I once, however, saw, in a hot-house in Shropshire, a large female wasp caught in the irregular web of a very small spider, and this spider, instead of cutting the web, most perseveringly continued to entangle the body, and especially the wings, of its prey. The wasp at first aimed in vain repeated thrusts with its sting at its little antagonist. Pitying the wasp, after allowing it to struggle for more than an hour, I killed it and put it back into the web. The spider soon returned; and an hour afterward I was much surprised to find it with its jaws buried in the opening

INDIAN OCEAN.

through which the sting is thrust out by the living wasp. I drove the spider away two or three times, but for the

THE SPIDER (Lycosa gyrophora).

next twenty-four hours I always found it again sucking at the same place. It became much swollen by the juices of its prey, which was many times larger than itself.

THE CRAB.

THERE is found on Keeling Island a crab which lives on the cocoa-nuts: it is very common on all parts of the