WARS OF ANTS. 341 



engaged in it ; and when a party of the wood-ant 

 (F. rufa) attacks a party of the sanguine ant {F. 

 sanguinea), the manoeuvring reminds us strongly 

 of our own battles. The sanguine ants, in this case, 

 go and await the enemy in little troops at some dis- 

 tance from the nest, advancing in a body without 

 separating, and seize all those of their enemies who 

 venture too far from the camp. ' The two parties,' 

 says Huber, ^ place themselves in ambuscade, and 

 suddenly attack each other in turns ; but when the 

 sanguine ants perceive that the wood-ants are ad- 

 vancing in force against them, they inform those at 

 the ant-hill, by messengers, of the need in which 

 they stand of their assistance. Immediately a con- 

 siderable army is despatched from the sanguine city, 

 advances in a body, and surrounds the enemy. 1 

 have witnessed instances of this kind every day for 

 several weeks, the ant hills being in the same hedge, 

 but at some distance from each other, and the combats 

 renewed every day.' 



Contiguity, however, is not always the cause of 

 such warfares, for we have seen innumerable in- 

 stances of colonies of different species, not only in 

 the same hedge, but with their boundary walls 

 almost touching each other, without any appearance 

 of hostility. Nay, we have more than once seen 

 colonies of three different species established under 

 the same stone. In an instance of this kind there 

 were separate colonies of the yellow ant {F. flava), 

 the negro ant {F. fusca), and the red ant {Myrmica 

 rubra) ; though the latter is most pugnacious perhaps, 

 and certainly the most virulent of the whole tribe, 

 yet all the three were living in harmony, though the 

 stone which served them as a common covering was 

 not a foot in diameter. Even in this case, however, 

 it was by no means safe for an individual to cross its 

 own boundaries and venture into its neighbour's ter- 



VOL. XII. 29* 



