372 HISTOUY OF 



their queens, and being deserted by the males, that served but 

 to clog the community, prepare for the severity of the winter, 

 and bury their retreats as deep in the earth as they conveniently 

 can. It is now found that the grains of corn, and other sub- 

 stances with which they furnish their hill, are only meant as 

 fences to keep off the rigours of the weather, not as provisions 

 to support them during its continuance. It is found generally 

 to obtain, that every insect that lives a year after it is come to 

 its full growth, is obliged to pass four or five nronths without 

 taking any nourishment, and will seem to be dead all that time. 

 It would be to no purpose, therefore, for ants to lay up corn 

 for the winter, since they lie that time without motion, heaped 

 upon each other, and are so far from eating, that they are ut- 

 terly unable to stir. Thus, what authors have dignified by the 

 name of a magazine, appears to be no more than a cavity, which 

 serves for a common retreat when the weather forces them to 

 return to their lethargic state. 



What has been said with exaggeration of the European ant, 

 is however true, if asserted of those of the tropical climates. 

 They build an ant-hill with great contrivance and regularity, 

 they lay up provisions, and as they probably live the whole year, 

 they submit themselves to regulations entirely unknown among 

 the ants of 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 insect. Their sting produces extreme pain, 

 and their depredations are sometimes extremely destructive. 

 They build an ant-hill of a very great size, from six to twelve 

 feet high ; it is made of viscous clay, and tapers into a pyramidal 

 form. This habitation is constructed with great artifice ; and 

 the cells are so numerous and even, that a honey-comb scarce 

 exceeds them in number and regularity. 



The inhabitants of this edifice seem to be under a very strict 

 regulation. At the slightest warning they will sally out upon 

 whatever disturbs them ; and if they have time to arrest their 

 enemy, he is sure to find no mercy. Sheep, hens, and even 

 rats, are often destroyed by these merciless insects, and their 

 flesh devoured to the bone. No anatomist in the world can 

 strip a skeleton so completely as they ; and no animal, how 

 strong soever, when they have once seized upon it, has power 

 to resist them. 



