370 HISTORY OF 



ports it. I have kept, says Swammevdam, several of the work 

 iiig ants in iny closet, with their young in a glass filled vrith 

 earth. I took pleasure in observing, that in proportion as the 

 earth dried on the surface, they dug deeper and deeper to deposit 



or fighting iiispots. Immediately after the blow is given, a soldier comes 

 out, walks about the breach, and seems to examine the nature of the enemy, 

 or cause of the attack. He then goes into the hill, gives the alarm, and 

 in a short time lar^e bodies rush out as fast as the breach will permit. It is 

 not easy to describe the fiu-y that actuates these fighting insects. In their 

 eagerness to repel the enemy, they frequently tumble down the sides of 

 the hill, but quickly recover themselves, and bite every thing they encoun- 

 ter. This biting, joined to the striking of their forceps upon the building, 

 makes a crackling or vibrating noise, which is somewhat shriller and quicker 

 tlian the ticking of a watch, and may be heard at the distance of several 

 feet. While the attack proceeds they are in the most violent bustle and 

 agitation. If they seize hold of any part of a man's body, they instantly 

 make a wound which gives some pain. When they attack the leg, the staiu 

 of blood upon the stocking extends more than an inch in width. They 

 make their hooked jaws meet at the first stroke, and never quit their hold, 

 but suflFer themselves to be pulled away piece after piece, without any at- 

 tempt to escape. On the other hand, if a person keeps out of their reach, 

 and gives them no further disturbance, in less than half an hour they re- 

 tire into the nest, as if they supposed the monster that damaged their 

 castle had fled. Before the whole of the soldiers have got in, the labouring 

 insects are all in motion, and hasten towards the breach, each of them hav- 

 ing a quantity of tempered mortal' in his mouth. This mortar they stick 

 upon the breach as fast as they arrive, and perform the operation with so 

 much despatch and facility, that, notwithstanding the immensity of their 

 number, they never stop or embarrass one another. During this scene of 

 apparent hurry and confusion, the spectator is agreeably surprised, a regu- 

 lar wall rising and gradually filling up the chasm. While the labourers are 

 thus employed, almost all the soldiers remain within, except here and there 

 one, who saunters about among six hundred or a thousand labourers, but 

 never touches the mortar. One soldier, however, invariably takes his sta. 

 tion close to the wall \\hich the labourers are building. This soldier turns 

 himself leisurely on all sides, and, at intervals of a minute or two, raises his 

 head, beats upon the building with his forceps, and makes the vibrating 

 noise formerly mentioned. A loud hiss instantly issues from the inside of 

 the dome, and all the subterraneous caverns and passages. That this hiss 

 proceeds from the labourers is apparent ; for, at every signal of this kind, 

 they work with redoubled quickness and alacrity. A reneAval vf the attack, 

 however, instantly changes the scene. " On the first stroke," Mr Smeath- 

 man remarks, " the labourers run into the many pipes and galleries with 

 which the building is perforated, which they do so quickly, that they seem 

 to vanish ; for, in a few seconds, all are gone, and the soldiers rush out as 

 numerous and as vindictive as before. On finding no enemy, they return 

 again leisurely into the hill ; and, soon after, the laboiu-ers appear loaded 

 as at first, as active, and as sedulous, with soldiers here and there among 

 th^ni, who ait. just in the same maimer, one or other of thfm giving thtf 



