80 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 



prey which they had seized. The miners dart upon 

 them, tight them foot to foot, dispute every inch of their 

 territory, and defend their progeny with unexampled 

 courage and rag^e. When the rufescents, laden with 

 pillage, retire, they do it in close order — a precaution 

 highly nec»;ssary, since their valiant enemies, pursuing 

 them, impede their progress 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 offin different directions, to a place of security, 

 some tlie young brood, and others their females that 

 are newly excluded : but when the danger is wholly 

 passed, they bring them back to their city, the gates 

 of which they barricade, and remain in great numbers 

 near them to guard the entrance. 



Formica sanguinea, as I observed above, is another 

 of the slave-making ants ; and its proceedings merit 

 separate notice, since they differ considerably from 

 those of the rufescents. They construct their nests 

 under hedges of a southern aspect, and likewise attack 

 the hills both of the negroes and miners. On the 15th 

 of July, at ten in the morning, Huber observed a small 

 band of these ants sallying forth from their formicary, 

 and marching rapidly to a neighbouring nest of ne- 

 groes, around which it dispersed. The inhabitants, 

 rushing out in crowds, attacked them and took several 

 prisoners : those that escaped advanced no further, but 

 appeared to wait for succours ; small brigades kept fre- 

 quently arriving to reinforce them, which emboldened 

 them to approach nearer to the city they had block- 



