104 PERFECT SOCIETIES OP INSECTS. 



deavoured to catch others : I have seen some wlio en- 

 gaged in these exercises with such eagerness, as to pur- 

 sue successively several workers ; and the combat did 

 not terminate till the least animated, having thrown 

 his antagonist, accomplished his escape by concealing 

 himself in some gallery "*." He compares these sports 

 to the gambols of two puppies, and tells us that he not 

 only often observed them in this nest, but also in his 

 artificial one. 



I shall here copy for you a memorandum I made last 

 year. " On the ninth of May, at half-past two, as I 

 was walking on the Plumstead road near Norwich, 

 on a sunny bank I observed a large number of ants 

 {Formica fusca^ L.) agglomerated in crowds near the 

 entrances of their nest. They seemed to make no long 

 excursions, as if intent upon enjoying the sun-shine at 

 home ; but all the while they were coursing about, and 

 appeared to accost each other with their antennae. Exa- 

 mining them very attentively, I at length saw one drag- 

 ging another, which it absolutely lifted up by its an- 

 tennae, and carrying it in the air. I followed it Avith my 

 eye, till it concealed itself and its antagonist in the nest. 

 I soon noticed another that had recourse to the same ma- 

 noeuvres; but in this instance the ant that was attacked 

 resisted manfully, a third sometimes appearing inclined 

 to interfere : the result was, that this also was dragged 

 in. A third was haled in by its leg, and a fourth by its 

 mandibles. What was the precise object of these pro- 

 ceedings, whether sport or violence, I could not ascer- 

 tain. I walked the same way on the following morn- 

 ingj but at an earlier hour, when only a few comers 



" Huber, 170— 



