250 HISTORY OF 
interior, and their companions came forth 
in numbers from their underground resi- 
dence. The Rufescent Ants, the bulk 
of whose army lay only at the distance 
of two paces, quickened their march to 
arrive at the foot of the ant-hill; the 
whole batallion, in an instant, fell upon 
and overthrew the Ash-coloured Ants, 
who, after a short, but obstinate conflict, 
retired to the bottom of theirnest. The 
Rufescent Ants now ascended the hillock, 
collected in crowds on the summit, and 
took possession of the principal avenues, 
leaving some of their companions to work 
an opening in the side of the ant-hill with 
their teeth. Success crowned their en- 
terprise, and by the newly made breach 
the remainder of the army entered. Their 
sojourn was, however, of short duration, 
for in three or four minutes they returned 
by the same apertures which gave them 
entrance, each bearing off in its mouth 
a larva or a pupa; they retraced the 
route by which they had arrived, and 
proceeded one after another, without 
