ANT EXPEDITIONS TO CAPTURE SLAVES. 347 



the miners seemed to be no less afraid of them, and 

 indeed ali the species which we tried in the same 

 way, among which were the carnivorous red ant 

 {J)Jyrmica rubra) ^ and the pacific yellow ant {F. 

 flava), produced the same efl^ect of fear among the 

 miners, though they now and then snatched up some 

 of the pupss, and carried them into the galleries 

 below. The red ants, however, in particular, always 

 followed them, and though so much inferior in 

 numbers, succeeded in rescuing their property. In 

 these experiments our miners, it is probable, had a 

 notion that the intruders did not come for the purpose 

 of invasion, otherwise their fear might have changed 

 into courage.* 



^ During these combats,' continues Huber, ^ the 

 pillaged ant-hill presented in miniature the spectacle 

 of a besieged city ; hundreds of the inhabitants being 

 seen to quit it, carrying off their young to preserve 

 them from the enemy. The greater number mounted 

 the neighbouring plants bearing the young in their 

 mandibles, and others hid them under thick bushes. 

 When the danger appeared to be over, they brought 

 them back to the city, and barricaded the gates, near 

 which they posted themselves in great force to guard 

 the entrance. Immediately after the legionaries again 

 departed, and proceeded towards another colony of 

 miners of considerable extent, and threw themselves 

 in a body upon one of the galleries indifferently 

 guarded ; but their number not permitting them to 

 enter all at once, the mining ants that were without 

 precipitated themselves upon the invaders ; and whilst 

 they were engaged in desperate combat, their fellow- 

 citizens losing, perhaps, every hope of defending 

 their abode and the little ones confided to their care, 

 carried these off, took flight in every direction, and 

 literally covered the ground to a considerable dis- 



* J. R. 



