276 INSECT MISCELLANIES. 



tirely to intercept their view, so that they were glad 

 to remove to another station in order to get rid of 

 them*." 



Our readers will feel equal interest in a migration 

 of ants of a different kind, which was first circum- 

 stantially recorded by the younger Huber, though it 

 attracts and has attracted the notice of every observer. 

 There are few gardens, even of small extent, which 

 do not contain one or more colonies of the negro- 

 ants (Formica fusca), or the turf-ants (Myrmica 

 cfBspitum), and these are, perhaps, the most restless 

 emigrants of the whole family (Formicidte, LEACH) ; 

 for their edifices being constructed among the grass 

 or in the sand, are liable to be destroyed by the 

 foot of every passenger, if not in the operations of 

 gardening, and whenever such accidents occur, they 

 become fidgetty and dissatisfied with the old place, 

 and soon set about selecting a new one. When 

 watching their architectural proceedings, accordingly, 

 we have been frequently disappointed in our expecta- 

 tions by the little colonists decamping altogether, 

 instead of making good the bits of wall which we 

 had broken down for the sake of experiment f. 

 During the summer of 1830, we paid considerable 

 attention to a numerous colony of the negro-ant (F. 

 fiisca), established on a sloping border at the root 

 of a carnation ; but soon after the plant came into 

 flower, the ants resolved to migrate to the other side 

 of the gravel-walk having been probably disturbed 

 by gathering the flowers, or invited by the shelter of 

 a thick pear-tree that overhung the border to which 

 they had removed. Their march, as is usual, was 

 very orderly, confined to a direct line, sufficiently 

 broad to let two pass without jostling; and their first 



* Intr. ii. 54. 

 f See Insect Architecture, p. 270, 



