5i2 ANTS. 



species of black Ants. The nest they had 

 constructed, which had the form of a trunc- 

 ated pyramid, appeared to be from fifteen to 

 twenty feet in height, on a base of thirty or 

 forty feet. He was told that when the new 

 settlers in their attempts to clear the country, 

 happened to meet \^^th any of these fortresses, 

 they were obliged to abandon the spot, unless 

 they could muster sufficient forces to lay re- 

 gular siege to the enemy. This they did, \)y 

 digging a circular trench all round the nest, 

 and filling it with a large quantity of dried 

 wood, to the whole of which they set fire at 

 the same time, by lighting it in different 

 parts all round the circumference. While 

 the entrenchments are blazing, the edifice 

 may be destroyed by firing at it with cannon"^ 

 and the Ants being by this means dispersed, 

 have no avenue for escape, except through the 

 fianiGS, in which they perish. 



