WARRIOR ANTS, AND THEIR EQUIPMENT 



first onset of a dog. The fore leg upon which Dorymyrmex 

 had seized, and which had instantly been raised, was then 



*. 



shaken violently, and the little assailant rolled upon the 

 ground (Fig. 80). 



Thereupon Occident unbent herself and resumed her 

 way. She scarcely had started ere her tormentor 



Fig. 80 A PLUCKY LILIPUTIAN ATTACKING AN OCCIDENT ANT 



again was upon her, followed by another and another, 

 until her body was dotted with the little vixens. They 

 grasped her feet, fastened upon the under parts of the 

 abdomen, mounted her back, seized her antenna. They 

 could not be shaken off. She snapped at them with her 

 strong jaws; struck at them with her claws; doubled her 

 abdomen under her body, and thrust at them her barbed 

 sting. Some were crushed, some were thrown off, but 

 others came to the assault. Anon the warring mass 

 rolled upon the ground, a whirling ball of red and dark 

 yellow, of quivering legs and antenna?. At last the 

 aggressors were driven off, or released their hold, and 

 Occident retired to a safe distance, combed her ruffled 

 hair, and passed by on the other side (Fig. 79). 



Some of the Occidents, as soon as they ncared the 



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197 



