HOW ANTS CARRY ON WAR 



the rival parties is almost sure to be hostile. [McC. 3, 

 p. 193.] 



As the season advances, and the excitement of home- 

 building and the keen fervor of communal parentalism 

 abate, the war fever cools down, and peace prevails. 

 Whatever be thought of the above as an explanation of 

 the wars of our city Tetramoriums, it at least opens to us 

 a secret chapter in the life of ant communities that 

 awakens unusual interest. It is the story of under- 

 ground wars. The surface combats are sufficiently intense 

 and tragical. But there is a mystery about the battles 

 waged within the dark caverns of the communes beneath 

 the surface that clothes them with an air of romance. 



Here are mining and countermining, just as one sees 

 it in engineering campaigns of men, without the horrible 

 accessories of explosives. Here a gallery is broken 

 through; a sharp engagement follows; the assaulted 

 party rallies to the defence of the works; the victors 

 have pushed their way in; the vanquished fall back. 

 But behind them a working detail has thrown up a strong 

 barricade, behind which the besieged rallv. and the bat- 



TJ */ / 



tie goes on anew. In the case of such a "thief ant >; 

 as Solenopsis fugax, whose diminutive commune is 

 constructed within that of some far larger host, the 

 mining tactics and the spirited resistance may be ob- 

 served in artificial glass nests, and they are extremely 

 interesting to watch. A rather remarkable feature of 

 the communal habits of this ant is that its swarming 

 does not occur, as Forel observes, until September, long 

 after that of its host ants (July, August). Thus they 

 can get to the surface safely and swarm undisturbed, 

 that belligerent period of their huge neighbors being 

 overpast. [F. 5, p. 499.] 



219 



