j^4 Ohfervatl6hs on Anis. 



jury, therefore, three tlilTerent ways. Swammcrdam (ays that 

 the jaws dr forceps of the ant have on each fide feven points 

 or fmall teeth ; and Lfcucnhoek pretends that it emits from 

 its fling fniall drops of a certain liquor which occafions pain, 

 as is the cafe with that of the fcorpion. Probably it is no- 

 thina; elfe than its acid liquor which is canflic. 



This infeil is very extraordinary, not only on account of 

 Its form, but on account of its fmall fize ; and being fo com- 

 monly fecn, it has not been examined with fufficient atten- 

 tion. Thofe who wifli to fee ants of a gigantic appearance, 

 ftiay infpeft the figure given of one by Gundelius Ab Achj 

 who flattered hinifelf that, in 1687, he had invented a nri-* 

 drofcope that magnified twice as much as any ever before 

 conftrnfted. The fame author has given the figure of a 

 vincrcd ant of the dimenfions of eleven inches'. 



We may confidcr ourfelvcs happy, that among the fmall 

 number of fpccies of this infe6t known in France, which 

 Mr. Geoffroy inakes to be only fix, there are none of thnfe 

 voracious and deftruftive kinds fo troubkfome in the burning 

 climates of Africa, in Egypt, and in South America. A fwami 

 of ants which have lodged in a hollow tree, illue from it on 

 its bfeing in the lead fliakcn, and, like a fhower of fire, fall 

 on the imhappy perfon expofed to their fury. One of ouf 

 moft learned naturalifis, going along the banks of the Niger, 

 found himfelf invefted bv a fort of red ants which lodge in 

 the icaco-trce. The punftures they made were fo venom- 

 ous, favs he, that my face and hands ■\vere covered with blif- 

 tcrs fimilar to thofe arifing from burning, the pain of which 

 could be allayed by nothing but a heavy rain, which took 

 place in the evening. The fame traveller was peftered in the 

 ifle of Goree by another kind of white ants {termites) which 

 gnaw and dedroy every thing that comes in their way. 



Botanifis long ago obferved, that when the flowers o^fuc- 

 corv were thrown iiTto an ant's neft, their blue colour was 

 changed into red, which is, flo doubt, common to the gre^lfcr 

 part of blue flowers. This phenomenon mull at firlt have 

 excited fome furprife, and it wa's explained, no doubt, ac- 

 cording" to the phyfical knowledge of the period; but it was 

 afterwards difcovered that this change of colour was owing 



• to 



