382 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 



9th of May, at half past two, as I was walking on the Plumstead road 

 near Norwich, on a sunny bank I observed a large number of ants (^For- 

 mica fusca) agglomerated in crowds near the entrances of their nest. 

 They seemed to make no long excursions, as if intent upon enjoying the 

 sunshine at home ; but all the while they were coursing about, and appeared 

 to accost each other with their antennae. Examining them very atten- 

 tively, I at length saw one dragging another, which it absolutely lifted up 

 by its antenncB, and carrying it in the air. I followed it with my eye, till 

 it concealed itself and its antagonist in the nest. I soon noticed another 

 that had recourse to the same manoeuvres ; but in this instance the ant 

 that was attacked resisted manfully, a third sometimes appearing inclined 

 to interfere : the result was, that this also was dragged in. A third was 

 hauled in by its legs, and a fourth by its mandibles. What was the precise- 

 object of these proceedings, whether sport or violence, I could not ascer- 

 tain. I walked the same way on the following morning, but at an earlier 

 hour, when only a k\v comers and goers were to be seen near the nest." 

 And soon leaving the place, I had no further opportunity to attend to 

 them. 



And now having conducted you through every apartment of the for- 

 micary, and shown you its inhabitants in every light, I shall leave you to 

 meditate on the extraordinary instincts with which their Creator has gifted 

 them, reserving what I have to say on the other social insects for a 

 future occasion. 



I am, &c. 



