AMAZON ANT. 205 



bearing in their pincers the purloined larvae ; another party, less for- 

 tunate, quitted the scene of attack, without reaping any advantage from 

 their expedition : the former took the road to their own citadel ; the 

 latter marched in a body upon a second ant-hill, tenanted by the same 

 species as the first, where they made ample booty. The whole army, 

 now forming two divisions, hastened to the spot from which it had taken 

 its departure. I reached the garrison a little before them ; but what 

 was my surprise to observe all around, a great number of that identical 

 species they had gone forth to attack. I raised up a portion of the 

 building, I still saw more ; this induced me to regard it as one of the 

 habitations that had already been pillaged by the amazons, when my 

 suspicions were removed by the arrival of the amazon legion at the 

 entrance, charged with the trophies of victory. Its return excited no 

 alarm among the negro ants, who, whilst the legionaries were descending 

 with their booty, so far from offering opposition, were even seen to 

 approach these warriors, caress them with their antennae, offer them 

 nourishment, as is the custom with those of their own species, take up 

 some of the larvae, and carry them into the nest. The amazons remained 

 within the rest of the day : the negro ants kept their station some time 

 without, but retired before night. 



"No enigma ever raised my curiosity so high as this singular discovery ; 

 and I had the satisfaction of finding near my own residence several ant- 

 hills of the same kind, not a little astonished at being the first to notice 

 their existence. 



" Conscious of the great advantage of having them so near me, I deter- 

 mined to devote the whole of my time to tjiem. As I was extremely 

 impatient to ascertain the nature of the connexion between these differ- 

 ent species, I opened one of their dwellings, and there observed a great 

 number of rufescent mingled with ash-coloured ants, which gave me 

 some general idea upon this head. The latter were busily engaged in 

 re-establishing the several avenues, hollowing out galleries, and carrying 

 below the exposed larvae and pupae. The amazons, on the contrary, 

 passed over the larvae, &c., with indifference, not once deigning to lift 

 them, or take any part in the labours going forward ; they wandered 

 for some time over the surface, and then retired to the bottom of their 

 citadel. 



" But at five in the evening, the scene undergoes a complete and 

 almost immediate change ; the amazons leave their retreat, become 

 restless, and assemble on the outside. They are all in motion ; none, 

 however, move but in a curved line, and in such a way, as quickly to 



VOL. II. NO. IV. E E 



