CH. VII.] ANTS. 131 



impetuosity, removing- with their teeth and feet the 

 many obstacles which impeded their progress : 

 having succeeded, they entered the ant-hill by hun- 

 dreds, notwithstanding- the resistance of its inhabit- 

 ants, and carried off their prize to the garrison." 



In these attacks the legionaries never take the 

 old negroes prisoners, knowing perhaps that at an 

 adult age the love of home, with all its associations, 

 would be sad obstacles to transplantation ; nor is 

 their contest attended with loss of blood ; they seek 

 the young, and these being obtained, they speedily 

 decamp with their booty. Nor do they ever begin 

 their predatory warfare before the end of May, or 

 beginning of June ; if they commenced at an earlier 

 period to purloin the young negroes, they might 

 secure a large supply of captives, but then it would 

 principally consist of males and females, and these 

 it seems nature does not permit them to seize : for 

 she has ordained that, in the ant-hills destined to 

 pillage, the males and females shall be produced 

 earlier than the males and females of the legiona- 

 ries ; and it is only after their own males and females 

 have undergone the last change, that the mstinct 

 which prompts them to steal the young of others 

 begins to operate. Hence, Huber has distinctly 

 ascertained, and Latreille has confirmed the discove- 

 ry, that the legionary ant-hill contains male, female, 

 and neuter amazons, together with negro-neuters, 

 but never negro males or females. The amazon 

 female, after having cast off her wings, lays the 

 foundation of her own nest, and performs all the 

 duties of a labourer. There is no doubt that these 

 creatures have the ability to work, and do so ; but 

 as soon as they obtain slaves to do that for them 

 which they ought to do themselves, they relinquish 

 every domestic duty, and during the day " tranquilly 

 wait, at the bottom of their subterranean abode, the 

 hour of departure, resei-ving their strength, courage, 



