PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 61 



ly to giving intelligence of the approach or presence of 

 danger; it is also co-extensive with all their other oc- 

 casions for communicating their ideas to each other. 



Some, whose extraordinary history I shall soon re- 

 late to you, engage in military expeditions, and often 

 previously send out spies to collect information. These, 

 as soon as they return from exploring the vicinity, enter 

 the nest ; upon which, as if they had communicated their 

 intelligence, the army immediately assembles in the 

 suburbs of their city, and begins its march towards that 

 quarter whence the spies had arrived. Upon the march, 

 communications are perpetually making between the 

 van and the rear ; and when arrived at the camp of the 

 enemy, and the battle begins, if necessary, couriers are 

 dispatched to the formicary for reinforcements a . 



If you scatter the ruins of an ant's nest in your apart- 

 ment, you will be furnished with another proof of their 

 language. The ants will take a thousand different paths, 

 each going by itself, to increase the chance of discovery ; 

 they will meet and cross each other in all directions, and 

 perhaps will wander long before they can find a spot 

 convenient for their reunion. No sooner does any one 

 discover a little chink in the floor, through which it can 

 pass below, than it returns to its companions, and, by 

 means of certain motions of its antennae, makes some of 

 them comprehend what route they are to pursue to find 

 it, sometimes even accompanying them to the spot; 

 these, in their turn, become the guides of others, till all 

 know which way to direct their steps b . 



It is well known also, that ants give each other in- 

 formation when they have discovered any store of pro- 



a Huber, 237,217, 167. a Md. 137. 



