130 NATURAL HISTORY. [CH. VII. 



may, however, be observed constantly returning- to 

 the rear : this is probably the means by which the 

 whole army is governed. 



With snch dispositions, manoeuvres, and disci 

 pline, Huber saAv an army of legionaries set out 

 for a negro city. With their usual impetuosity of 

 attack, one party soon entered, and returned laden 

 with the young of the assailed ant-hill ; a second 

 detachment, not meeting with equal success, sepa- 

 rated from their companions, and fell on another 

 negro colony, where they met with ample booty; 

 after which the whole number of legionaries marched 

 to their nest in two divisions. As they approached, 

 Huber saw, to his astonishment, a great number of 

 the very same species which had been pillaged, all 

 around the nest of the legionaries. Was this a di- 

 version made by carrying the war into the enemy's 

 territory ] No : the return of the legionaries ex- 

 cited no alarm; on the contrary, the negro ants 

 were seen to approach these warriors, caress them 

 with their antennae, offer them nourishment, as is 

 the custom among their own species, while the 

 legionaries consigned their prisoners to them to be 

 carried to the interior of the nest. 



In this way the same negro colony was observed 

 to be attacked three several times, and each time 

 with complete success; the last attack, however, 

 was made under different circumstances from the 

 first two : the negroes, as if conscious of their ex- 

 posed situation, had lost no time in throwing up 

 trenches, barricading the several entrances, and re- 

 inforcing the guard of the interior ; " they had more- 

 over, brought together all the little pieces of wood 

 and earth within their reach ; with these they had 

 blocked up the passage to their habitation, in which 

 they had posted themselves in full force." 



" The legionaries at first hesitating to approach, 

 rambled about or returned to the rear; they then on 

 a given signal rushed forward en masse, with great 



