16 PARA. Cuap. I. 
de resistance,” serving as a foil against onslaughts made on the main 
body of workers. 
The third order of workers is the most curious of all. If the top of a 
small fresh hillock, one in which the thatching process is going on, be 
taken off, a broad cylindrical shaft is disclosed, at a depth of about two: 
feet from the surface. If this be probed with a stick, which may be 
done to the extent of three or four feet without touching bottom, a 
small number of colossal fellows (Fig. 3) will slowly begin to make their 
way up the smooth sides of the mine. ‘Their heads are of the same 
size as those of the class Fig. 2; but the front is clothed with hairs, 
instead of being polished, and they have in the middle of the forehead 
a twin ocellus, or simple eye, of quite different structure from the 
ordinary compound eyes, on the sides of the head. This frontal eye is. 
totally wanting in the other workers, and is not known in any other 
kind of ant. The apparition of these strange creatures from the 
cavernous depths of the mine reminded me, when I first observed: them, 
of the Cyclopes of Homeric fable. ‘They were not very pugnacious, as 
I feared they would be, and I had no difficulty in securing a few with. 

Saiiba Ant.—Female. 
my fingers. I never saw them under any other circumstances than 
those here related, and what their special functions may be I cannot. 
divine. 
The whole arrangement of a Formicarium, or ant-colony, and all the 
varied activity of ant-life, are directed to one main purpose—the per- 
petuation and dissemination of the species. Most of the labour which 
we see performed by the workers has for its end the sustenance and 
welfare of the young brood, which are helpless grubs. The true: 
females are incapable of attending to the wants of their offspring; and 
it is on the poor sterile workers, who are denied all the other pleasures: 
of maternity, that the entire care devolves. What a wonderfully 
organised community is that of the ant! The workers are also the 
chief agents in carrying out the different migrations of the colonies, 
which are of vast importance to the dispersal and consequent prosperity 
of the species. The successful début of the winged males and females 
depends likewise on the workers. It is amusing to see the activity and 
excitement which reign in an ants’ nest when the exodus of the winged 
individuals is taking place. The workers clear the roads of exit, and 
