20 SECRETS OF ANIMAL LIFE 



In the summer of 1911, after scouting had con- 

 tinued for some time, Emery noticed one afternoon 

 a growing excitement, and the issue of a platoon 

 of sixty Amazons. But they only went a couple 

 of yards or so, and then returned. About an hour 

 afterwards there was another sally which made 

 straight for a colony of Brown Ants and came back 

 laden with prisoners (babies and children as usual). 

 Going and coming several times the Amazons got 

 over 450 prisoners that evening. In 1912 and 1913, 

 Emery continued working with his artificial nest 

 which he shifted hither and thither (a method 

 likely to be very useful in tackling myrmeco- 

 logical problems), and he confirmed Forel's descrip- 

 tion of the rapidity and precision of some of the 

 predatory raids. This probably depends in part 

 on the previous reconnoitering, and it seems likely 

 enough that a scout who has discovered a suitable 

 object of pillage may give the direction to the 

 raiders, if it does not actually lead the way. In 

 one instance, reported by Forel, the nest to be 

 pillaged was at a distance of over 16 feet, but the 

 Amazon army went straight for the goal. 



A most extraordinary case was long ago reported 

 by Ebrard. One forenoon he took home a nest of 

 common ants and their cocoons, inclosed in a 

 carefully tied handkerchief, and deposited it in a 

 room on the second story, meaning to give the 

 warblers in his aviary a treat. In the course of the 

 afternoon, on returning from a walk, he found his 

 servants in a state of great excitement, for the house 



