343 INSECT MISCELLANIESi 



tance. The contest became every moment vvarmer 

 between the assailants and the assailed. Legionaries 

 and miners attacked each other impetuously, and 

 often, in the excess of their fury, deceived as to their 

 object, fell upon their companions, whom however 

 they soon released. This commotion was confined 

 to the rear guard of the legionary army; for the 

 main body, laden with booty, having departed on 

 their return from the pillaged city, retraced their 

 steps to their own citadel, constantly assailed by the 

 miners, who continued to harass their march. It was 

 only by their address, indeed, the rapidity of their 

 movements, and the use of their sting, that the 

 legionaries were enabled to disengage themselves. 

 The pillage and skirmishes are not of long con- 

 tinuance, for in less than a quarter of an hour we 

 usually found the legionaries on the road to their 

 garrison *." 



Huber's legionary ant (F. riifescens) is not the only 

 species which engages in those expeditions; for the 

 sanguine ant (F. sanguinea), mentioned by Mr. Ste- 

 phens as having been discovered near London, is 

 also a capturer of slaves, though the tactics employed 

 for this purpose are considerably different. The san- 

 guine ant is so named from the head, thorax, and feet 

 being blood-red, while the abdomen is ash-coloured 

 and slightly bronzed. They much resemble the 

 wood-ant (F. riifa) ; and their nest, which is usually 

 placed on the slope of a hedge or bank facing the 

 south, is, like that of the wood-ant, covered with 

 fragments of leaves, stalks of plants, moss, and little 

 stones, which form a species of mortar difficult to 

 break. They do not, like the legionaries, send out 

 numerous armies, nor attempt to carry their point by 

 impetuosity ; but make their attacks in small succes- 

 sive divisions. As it would diminish the interest to 

 * Huber on Ants, p. 295. 



