THE YELLOW ANT. 313 



of its abilities to remove heavy substances, equal 

 to any that we meet with. One of these little 

 creatures, thirty-six of which only weigh a single 

 grain, I have seen bear away the great black fly 

 as its prize, equal to a grain in weight, with consi- 

 derable ease ; and even the wasp, which exceeds 

 forty times its own weight, will be dragged away 

 by the labour and perseverance of an individual 

 emmet. These little ants are occasionally and pro- 

 fusely deprived of their lives by some unknown 

 visitation. In the year 1826, in particular, and 

 again in the following year, I observed, in the 

 month of August, a lane strewed with their bodies 

 They had bred during the summer in an adjoining 

 bank ; but some fatality had overwhelmed them 

 when absent from their nests, and nearly anni- 

 hilated the fraternity, as only a few scattered sur- 

 vivors were to be seen, feebly inspecting the bodies 

 of their associates. The task of removal, how- 

 ever, with all their industry, appeared beyond 

 their powers to accomplish, as on the ensuing day 

 few had been taken away. Had these creatures 

 been destroyed in combat by rival contention, the 

 animosity must have been excessive ; but it is more 

 probable that they met their death by some other 

 infliction., 



One year, on the 3d of March, my labourer 

 being employed in cutting up anthills, or tumps, 

 as we call them, exposed to view multitudes of the 

 yellow species (formica flava) in their winter's re- 

 tirement. They were collected in numbers in 



