80 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 



This species being more courageous than the other, on 

 this account the rufescent host marches to the attack in 

 closer order than usual, moving with astonishing ra- 

 pidity. As soon as they begin to enter their habitation, 

 myriads of the miners rushing out fall upon them with 

 great fury ; while others, well aware of their purpose, 

 making a passage through the midst of them, carry off 

 in their mouth the larvae and pupae. The surface of the 

 nest thus becomes the scene of an obstinate conflict, and 

 the assailants are often deprived of the prey which they 

 had seized. The miners dart upon them, fight them 

 foot to foot, dispute every inch of their territory, and 

 defend their progeny with unexampled courage and rage. 

 When the rufescents, laden with pillage, retire, they do 

 it in close order — a precaution highly necessary, since 

 their valiant enemies, pursuing them, impede their pro- 

 gress for a considerable distance from their residence. 



During these combats the pillaged ant-hill presents 

 in miniature the spectacle of a besieged city ; hundreds 

 of its inhabitants may be seen making their escape, and 

 carrying off in different directions, to a place of security, 

 some the young brood, and others their females that are 

 newly excluded : but when the danger is wholly passed, 



in the ridge before mentioned, where they first appeared in the long 

 grass, I did not succeed in finding the entrance to their nest, so that 

 I was deprived of tlie pleasure of seeing the mixed society. As we 

 dined at an auberge close to the spot, I proposed renewing my re- 

 searches after dinner; but a violent tempest of thunder and rain, 

 though I attempted it, prevented my succeeding ; and afterwards I 

 had no ojiportunity of revisiting the place. 



M. Latreille very justly observes that it is physically impossible 

 for the rufescent ants {Poli/ergns riifescens), on account of the form 

 of their jaws and the accessory parts of the mouth, either to prepare 

 habitations for their family, to procure food, or to feed them. — Con- 

 iiclera/ions v.ouvelles, S^'C, p. 408. 



