ANT EXPEDITIONS TO CAPTURE SLAVES. 345 



had to undertake a siege in regular form, for the 

 negroes, as if conscious of their own weakness, lost 

 no time in throwing up trenches, barricading the 

 several entrances, and reinforcing the guard of the 

 interior, in order to provide for future safety. With 

 the same view, they had brought together all the 

 little pieces of wood and earth within reach, with 

 which they had blocked up the passage to their en- 

 campment. Upon discovering these defensive pre- 

 parations, the legionaries at first hesitated to ap- 

 proach, but rambled about or returned to the rear 

 till sufficiently reinforced ; but at length, upon a 

 signal given, they rushed forward in a body with 

 great impetuosity, and began to demolish the bar- 

 ricades with their mandibles and their feet. When 

 they had thus made a sufficient breach, they entered 

 into the interior by hundreds, in spite of the resist- 

 ance of the poor negroes, and carried off their re- 

 maining property. " I was witness,'' says Huber 

 " every day during summer to these invasions *." 



The negro-ants are most commonly the victims 

 of these hostile excursions, probably in consequence 

 of their pacific and docile disposition ; but in more 

 than one instance Huber observed successful attacks 

 made upon the more warlike and powerful commu- 

 nities of the mining ant (Formica cunicularia) , a 

 British species, though not abundant, and nearly re- 

 sembling the wood-ant (F. rufa) in colour, though 

 about a fourth less in size. It is interesting to re- 

 mark, that though the result of a victory is precisely 

 similar to the case already detailed, the legionaries 

 are obliged to employ a different mode of warfare, 

 as we shall see from Huber's narrative. 



" Between four and five in the evening," he says, 

 " a time when the army usually commences its 

 march, the legionaries were already assembled on, 

 * Huber on Ants, p. 263. 



