PEllFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS, 63 



(^stle. The discovery- was communicated to the whole 

 soeiety, and in a short time the threads were filled with 

 trains of busy workers passing to and fro*. 



Ligon's account of the ants in Barbadoes affords an- 

 other most convincing proof of this : — as he has told 

 his tale in a very lively and interesting manner, I shall 

 give it nearly in his own words. 



''The next of these moving little animals are ants 

 or pismires; and these are butof a small size, but great 

 in industry ; and that which gives them means to at- 

 tain to this end is, they have all one soul. If I should 

 say they are here or there, I should do them m rong, for 

 they are every where ; under ground, where any hollow 

 or loose earth is ; amongst the roots of trees ; upon 

 the bodies, branches, leaves and fruit of all trees ; in all 

 places without the houses and within ; upon the sides, 

 walls, windows, and roofs without ; and on the floors, 

 side walls, ceilings, and windows within ; tables, cup- 

 boards, beds, stools, all are covered w ith them, so that 



they are a kind of ubiquitaries. We sometimes kill 



a cockroach, and throw him on the ground ; and mark 

 what they will do with him : his body is bigger than a 

 hundred of them, and yet they will find the means to 

 take hold of him, and lift him up ; and having him 

 above ground, away they carry him, and some go by 

 as ready assistants, if any be weary ; and some are the 

 officers that lead and show the way to the hole into 

 which he must pass ; and if the vancurriers perceive 

 that the body of the cockroach lies across, and will not 

 pass through the hole or arch through whicli they 

 mean to carry him, order is given, and the body turned 



"Gould, 85, 



