80 



motion, heaped upon each other, and are so far from 

 eating, that they are utterly unable to stir. Thus what 

 authors have dignified by the name of a magazine, ap 

 pears to be no more than a cavity, which serves for a 

 common retreat 3 when they return to their lethargic 

 state. 



But what has been falsely said of the European ant, 

 is true of those of the tropical climates. They do lay 

 up provisions, and as they probably live the whole 

 year, submit to regulations unknown among the ants 

 in Europe. Those of Africa are of three kinds, the 

 red, the green, and the black ; the latter are above an 

 inch long, and in every respect a most formidable in- 

 sect. They build an ant-hill from six to twelve feet 

 high, made of viscous clay, and in a pyramid form : 

 the cells are so numerous and even, that a honeycomb 

 scarce exceeds them. The inhabitants of this edifice 

 seem to be under a very strict regulation. At the 

 slightest warning they sally out upon whatever dis- 

 turbs them, and if they arrest their enemy, he is sure 

 to find no mercy. Sheep, hens, and even rate, are 

 often destroyed by these merciless insects, and their 

 flesh devoured to the bone. No anatomist can strip a 

 skeleton so clean as they. 



If a frog be put into a box with holes bored therein, 

 and the box laid near a nest of ants, they will entirely 

 dissect him, and make the finest skeleton possible, 

 leaving even the ligaments unhurt. 



22. One of the most dreadful enemies of the ant is 

 the Formica-leo or Ant-Eater: it is soft as a spider, 

 but has in its form some resemblance ol a wood-louse, 

 Its body is composed of several rings; it has six legs, 

 four joined to the breast, and the other two to a long 

 part, which may be termed the neck. Its head is small 

 and flat, and it has two remarkable horns, the sixth 

 of an inch long, as thick as a hair, hard, hollow, and 

 hooked at the end. At the origin of each of these 

 horns, it has a clear and bright black eye. 



He is not able to hunt after prey, nor to destroy. 



