A.\T-IANA. 



91 



In tlie present number I shall mention some facts which will i'urther 

 illustrate the observations made in No. 2. 



About 5 o''clock in the afternoon of the 23d of July, whilst walk- 

 ing out, my attention was suddenly arrested by a considerable number 

 of red ants, crossing the path before me. They moved rapidly in a com- 

 pact body about six inches in width and from 18 inches to two feet in 

 length. 



After traveling in this manner a short distance in the path, they en- 

 tered some thick grass and immediately disappeared. Being anxious to 

 ascertain what had become of them, I pulled up some of the grass a- 

 bout the place, but was unable to find any traces of them, and thinking 

 they might have gone through a hedge thai was near, I passed round to 

 examine, but was still unsuccessful in meeting with them. When 1 re- 

 turned to the place where they had so mysteriously disappeared, I ob- 

 served a number of ants coming out of the grass and running with great 

 haste along the walk, each carrying a white p^qm (the undisclosed 

 young) in his jaws. Instead of the regular military manner in which 

 they entered the grass, they now resembled a retreating army after an 

 engagement, or a band of robbers hastening from a house they had 

 plundered. They passed along singly or in straggling parties of two or 

 three, keeping a direct line however, from which little or no deviation 

 was noticed. 



In the grass near where I lost sight of them, I found a small hole, 

 out of which they were now issuing, laden witli their booty. Contin- 

 uing tlie line of their march diagonally across the walk, they entered 

 the grass in the opposite side, wliere some difficulty was found in tra- 

 cing them, but by removing the grass in advance, I was enabled to fol- 

 low them about forty yards, where they entered a small hole in the 

 ground, carrying their plunder in with them. When they had nearly 

 all arrived and deposited their spoils, they again issued in considerable 

 numbers from the nest, collected in a body, and commenced their march 

 in a straight line towards the nest they had just plundered. In a few 

 minutes they reached it, and, making the attack in a body, entered with- 

 out any resistance from the occupants. It was not long, however, be- 

 fore they re-appeared, but not laden with^wpae as before. Their retreat 

 tliis time was more orderly than before. 



I was unable to ascertain the reason why they l(;ft the nest tliis time 

 without booty, unless they had totally stripped it on their first cxjiedi- 

 tion, or had inot with unexpected resistance within from the rightful 

 owners, and thought it mu^\ prudent to retreat. During their absence 

 the second time, I took occasiuu lu examine their sclllcnient, and found 



