Habits of the " Drivers" of West Africa. 11 



tory. They fiercely attack any thing that comes in their way, — 

 •'conquer or die" is their motto. I have known a live coal of 

 fire held before them, at which, though so obnoxious to heat, they 

 rushed with indescribable ferocity, releasing their hold only in 

 death. They have no eyes visible through my glasses, which, 

 however, are not powerful. They seem to be less under the in- 

 fluence of the sense of smelling than of hearing or feeling. 



If taken a few feet from their habitation they seem to be at a 

 loss to know the way to return ; some will at last succeed in 

 arriving at home, others not. To decide the point whether they 

 detected the proximity of prey by the sense of smell or not, I 

 placed near one of their domicils, first a small bird, dead, then a 

 barn-door fowl, but not an individual was attracted to the spot. 

 They were roused several times by knocking on the covering of 

 their habitation ; this brought them forth in large numbers, when 

 they ran about in different directions in search of the intruder, 

 coming very near to their favourite food, but not one in contact 

 with it. The bird was now brought within two, then one foot of 

 their nest, both times with the same success. At last one or two, 

 as if by accident, found it out, and laid hold of the feathers in a 

 great rage, then retired within their habitation. I waited a long 

 time to see if any intelligence would be conveyed of the proximity 

 of their favourite prey, but no evidence of the fact appeared. I 

 roused them again, and put some of the largest and of the second 

 class upon the bird ; they jumped about in great perturbation and 

 rage, pulled vigorously at the feathers, then biting into the flesh, 

 at last disappeared without further effort. No intelligence being 

 yet conveyed that food was at hand, I brought them forth in still 

 greater numbers, and thrusting the fowl down among them, held 

 it there till it was well covered, and then withdrew it to a distance 

 of about two feet, to observe their proceedings. As the fowl was 

 drawn back many ants were left on the intervening ground, and 

 thus free communication was soon established between it and their 

 domiciL A few of the largest class, which are always the first to 

 come forth for defence, were seen running to and fro, forming a 

 line which, when completed, was seen to be composed mostly of 

 individuals of classes Nos. 3 and 2, No. 1 evidently taking ma- 

 nagement of the others. The first step in their operations was 

 to clear the path of all moveable obstructions. This was done 

 chiefly by the third class; some of No. 2, and occasionally No. 1, 

 coming in when large obstacles were to be removed. It was in- 

 tensely interesting to see these little creatures gaining victory, by 

 one process after another, over comparatively mountain obstacles 



