SOUTH AFRICA 21 



one hundred yards from the camp. When they 

 came out on a foraging expedition the column 

 was about two hundred yards long, the soldiers 

 being well away on each side — a regular military 

 formation with scouts in front. On one occasion 

 I happened on them just as they were leaving their 

 nest, and on scattering the front rank of the column 

 with a stick the whole lot turned on their tracks 

 and hurried back to shelter — similar to the thugs 

 of India, who always relinquished their intended 

 raid after an inauspicious start. Their raids were 

 chiefly in search of white ant nests : I have seen 

 them returning, each ant, excepting the scouts, 

 carrying an egg. Ants are supposed to have 

 great sagacity ; but I have watched ants of all 

 sorts, and if they met an obstruction, such as a 

 strong blade of grass, they would, even when laden 

 with some morsel of food, climb up one side and 

 down the other instead of going round. Individual 

 intellieence both in ants and bees is not of a 

 high order, but their communal intelligence is 

 marvellous. 



There is a species of milliped common in these 

 parts which, when mature, measure about nine or 

 ten inches. On one of their forages the ants 

 came across a full-grown specimen, and a great 

 struggle ensued. The milliped, with several ants 

 hanging on to each leg, fought valiantly, twisting 



