COMPOUND ANT-HILLS. 285 
them small pieces of meat, raw and roast- 
ed, from which they turned away with 
equal indifference, the Negro Ants seiz- 
ing upon it at the moment. 
Another experiment, which I. fre- 
quently repeated, was that of placing 
my hand before the army when in march ; 
the Amazons passed between my fingers, 
unalarmed at my presence; none at- 
tempted to pinch or sting me. We could 
not put to the same proof, with impunity, 
all other species of ants. * 
* The Red Ants of this country, on being dis- 
turbed, become excessively angry, and fasten upon 
the hands and uncovered parts of the body, where 
they produce an almost intolerable itching, not 
much unlike that occasioned by the stinging nettle. 
From Perceval we learn, that the large Red 
Ants of Ceylon, which live on trees, and build 
their nests among the branches, bite very severely. 
This seems, also, tobe the case with a black ant 
found in the same island, which, according to Knox, 
“‘ bites desperately ; as bad as if a man were burnt 
by a coal of fire.’ Anderson, in his account of 
the natural productions of Van Diemen’s Land, 
states, among other insects, he met with two that 
were excessively troublesome, the mosquito, and a 
large black ant, whose bite, he observes, occasioned 
