WARS OF ANTS. 205 
selves in a posture of defence, curve 
their abdomen and ejaculate their venom. 
So much is their attention occupied, when 
making preparations for war, that they 
lose sight of all other objects. | 
The ants then are acquainted with 
labours, combats, I was about to say, 
pleasures* ; they possess signs which are 
* They have also their diseases. I have noticed 
one extremely singular. The individuals who are 
attacked, lose the power of advancing in a straight 
line; they cannot proceed but by turning in a very 
confined circle, and always in the same direction. 
A virgin female that was enclosed in one of my 
sand boxes was suddenly seized in this way: she 
described a circle of an inch in diameter, making 
about a thousand turns each hour. She turned 
constantly during seven days, and when I visited 
her in the night, I saw her engaged in the same 
practice. I gave her some honey, of which I have 
every reason to believe she partook. I once disco- 
vered three labourers performing these evolutions, 
one of them still possessed the faculty of occasion- 
ally moving in a straight line. I took it up and 
placed it on my hand; it continued its gyrations, 
stopped a moment to taste some honey, and recom- 
menced its circular journey. The second labourer, 
which was of the Ash-coloured species, had one of 
its antennz cut; it however escaped, before I had 
made upon it the experiments I proposed. The 
K 6 
