PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 81 



they bring them back to their city, the gates of which 

 they barricade, and remain in great numbers near them 

 to guard the entrance. 



Formica sanguinea, as I observed above, is another 

 of the slave-making ants ; and its proceedings merit sepa- 

 rate notice, since they differ considerably from those of 

 the rufescents. They construct their nests under hedges 

 of a southern aspect, and likewise attack the hills both 

 of the negroes and miners. On the 15th of July, at ten 

 in the morning, Huber observed a small band of these 

 ants sallying forth from their formicary, and marching 

 rapidly to a neighbouring nest of negroes, around which 

 it dispersed. The inhabitants, rushing out in crowds, 

 attacked them and took several prisoners: those that 

 escaped advanced no further, but appeared to wait for 

 succours; small brigades kept frequently arriving to 

 reinforce them, which emboldened them to approach 

 nearer to the city they had blockaded ; upon this their 

 anxiety to send couriers to their own nest seemed to in- 

 crease : these spreading a general alarm, a large rein- 

 forcement immediately set out to join the besieging army; 

 yet even then they did not begin the battle. Almost all 

 the negroes, coming out of their fortress, formed them- 

 selves in a body about two feet square in front of it, and 

 there expected the enemy. Frequent skirmishes were 

 the prelude to the main conflict, which was begun by 

 the negroes. Long before success appeared dubious 

 they carried off their pupae, and heaped them up at the 

 entrance to their nest, on the side opposite to that on 

 which the enemy approached. The young females also 

 fled to the same quarter. The sanguine ants at length 

 rush upon the negroes, and attacking them on all sides, 



VOL. II. G 



