RELATION BETWEEN ANTS. 145 
nions, could not arrive to their assistance ; 
but it appears, that they are quickly and 
well informed of what is passing on 
the exterior, When we attack those 
without, the most part engage in their 
defence with a considerable degree of 
courage: there are always some, who 
immediately steal off and produce alarm 
throughout their city; the news is com- 
municated from quarter to quarter, and 
the labourers come forward in a crowd, 
with every mark of uneasiness and anger. 
What, however, is highly worthy our re- 
mark is, that the ants, to whose charge 
the young are confided, and who inhabit 
the upper stories, where the temperature 
is highest, warned also of the impending 
danger, always governed by that extreme 
solicitude for their charge, which we have 
so often admired, hasten to convey them 
to the deepest part of their habitation, 
and thus deposit them in a place of 
safety. 
To study in detail the manner in which 
this alarm spreads over the ant-hill, we 
H 
