NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 105 



instantly, all that portion of the confederacy are up in arms. Large com- 

 panies attack him forthwith. It is, however, always a dangerous experiment, 

 and very often resulis in failure. At the best, there is to the erratic ant, in 

 these cases of daring, great loss of life. When they make the attack, the 

 giant intruder, at first, seems to regard it as an affair of a trifling nature, and 

 with but little concern, strikes about amongst his diminutive assailants 

 without any apparent anxiety. He occasionally snatches up one of the most 

 venturesome, and, as if to frighten the rapidly-increasing hordes, or to show 

 off his great strength, he breaks the backs or heads of half a dozen or so, 

 but does not kill near as many as he might. 



The news of this giant invader of the confederacy soon spreads to every 

 city, each of which sends out its quota of warriors ; and it is surprising to 

 note how promptly and with what haste they stream along on the road to the 

 troubled city. The field around the red monster begins to blacken with the 

 accumulating regiments of the invaded nation ; and now, when it is too late, 

 the great red monster begins in earnest to crush and slay every one that 

 comes in range of his death-dealing jaws ; and, by means of his great 

 strength and power to crush and destroy everyone upon whom he can clamp 

 his ponderous jaws, he often succeeds, with the loss of one or more of his 

 feet, perhaps, in extricating himself from the dangerous thraldom. But 

 more frequently, the daring little blacks pitch into the strife in such multi- 

 tudes, and seizing him by every foot, and leg, and horn, and weighing him 

 down by their numbers, overturn him, clip off his feet, gnaw at his throat, 

 saw at his waist, and, finally, in the course of half a day, succeed in render- 

 ing the giant foe harmless. And now, with a grand display of their numbers, 

 they drag the now helpless victim about in triumph for a time, and then as 

 many as can get a hold of the dying red ant pierce him in the joints of his 

 coat of mail, and suck from his trembling, agonizing, prostrate body all the 

 vital fluids, leaving the perfectly-dry skeleton on the plain, as a warning to 

 all such adventurous intruders. 



About the first of October, or as soon as the atmospheric temperature 

 begins gradually to lower, the thoughtful little erratic ant, who is, indis- 

 putably, a practical meteorologist, goes diligently to work, deepening his 

 habitation. A knowledge of the meteorological indications obtains with all 

 the species of the ant genus. Hence, we find that, during the summer sea- 

 son, they throw out from their cells only black dirt soil; then they are ex- 

 cavating apartments near the surface, both for convenience to the foraging 

 laborers, whose duty it is to bring in the supplies, and to obtain a higher 

 temperature for the purpose of hatching and nurturing the young. But, as 

 soon as the signs of approaching winter supervene, we see them throwing up 

 (day, and, among the larger types of the genus, borings of the limestone 

 rock, even. Thus we learn that they are preparing cells or apartments at a 

 greater depth. With a perfect knowledge of their physical powers of resist- 

 ance to the atmospherical changes which are to take place during the winter, 

 they construct their winter quarters. Accordingly, if we take pains to 

 ascertain the truth by examining the facts for ourselves, we shall fiud them 

 excavating their winter apartments at a depth below the line of change to 

 where the temperature is uniform at about 48 Fahrenheit. Here, with the 

 addition of the vital warmth of the swarm, the temperature of their winter 

 quarters maintains an uniform heat of about 69. In this the community 

 remains comfortable and active throughout the season of inclement weather. 



16th March, 18G2. This was quite a gala day with this species of ant. At 

 all their holes everywhere in this vicinity, might be seen great numbers of 

 their diminutive, white-winged queens frisking about, around the entrance to 

 their cities, in a very antic style. All the drones, or male ants, were out, too, 

 running very rapidly to and fro, chasing the queens, who suffered themselves 

 to be overtaken, receiving the embrace of their lovers quite naturally and 

 very often. Many of the neutrals were out also, who were engaged in trans- 



38(J6.] 



