THE ANTS 



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and summon forth the hosts of ferocious warriors. These encouraging one another 

 with taps of the antennae, march on the unhappy colony, whose baby inhabitants 

 they propose to enslave. Of all the warriors the most warlike are the amazons 

 (Formica rufescens}, robber ants of great size, strength, and courage. A column is 

 formed, and, guided by the scent of their prey, as they come within the radius of 

 their victims' pathways to and from their city, in hundreds they rush onward. An 

 hour, it may be, after the start, the nest is reached and entered, and soon the 

 struggle becomes a furious battle, on the one hand to save, on the other to carry off 

 the larvae. Up the neighboring trees the owners fly with their precious burdens, a 

 harbor of refuge, secure from danger, for here the Amazons cannot follow 

 specialized to kill but not to climb. Others hang on the flanks of the retreating 

 columns and harass the thieves bearing off the tender pupae. A nurse seizes one 



i. Honey-pot ants; 2. Parasol ants on the march; 3. Dwellings of husbandmen ants, 

 (Natural size.) 



end of her nursling, the Amazon has the other, imperceptibly the jaws of the latter 

 steal up, still holding on, toward the far end, till the nurse's head is pierced. 

 Sometimes the Amazon lets go, and the nurse is gone in a trice, and the pupa with 

 her, while the warrior contents itself with a vicious grin as the embryo slave van- 

 ishes into the tree tops. The slaves left behind in the city are ready to receive the 

 plunder; and soon more slaves are hatched, whose prison is now their home, for 

 they have never been conscious of another. But success does not always smile 

 upon their expeditions; -an entire army may lose the way, courage may fail the 

 leaders, disputes may arise, and general unaccountable want of esprit de corps breaks 

 their resolution, and the attack is abandoned. Many a warrior loses its way emerg- 

 ing from the ravaged nest by passages which open to the thicket far from those they 

 entered by. The sense of smell is of no avail, that of direction does not rise to the 

 occasion. 

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