WARS OF ANTS. 181 
rate, in favour of this resemblance, ex- 
pressions a little too pompous for the 
heroines whose history [ am writing: we 
cannot invent a particular language for 
these insects, we must therefore make 
use of the terms employed when speaking 
of war. 
I shall not now describe the kind of 
chase which ants give to those insects 
they find in their journies ; the whole of 
their art being then limited to their as- 
sembling together for the purpose of 
assailing and dragging them to the ant- 
hill. ‘The ants of southern countries, 
more warlike than ours, attack little quad- 
rupeds and destroy rats and other noxious 
cross the sides of the pit, is carried by the sliding 
sand within the grasp of its oppressor. It may be 
that the ant, on perceiving its danger, endeavours 
to scramble up the embankment; but our wary 
friend, unwilling to be deprived of his long-expected 
meal, shakes off his usual inactivity, and by a 
timely shower of sand, seldom fails of bringing 
down its victim. Like most insects that lie in wait 
for prey, the Ant-Liomis capable of enduring very 
long abstinence, -—— T. 
