HYMENOPTEEA. 395 



Very soon they arrived near a nest of ashy-black ants, whose 

 dome rose among the grass, at twenty paces from the hedge. A 

 few ants of this species were at the door of their habitation. As 

 soon as they descried the army which was approaching, they threw 

 themselves on those which were at the head of the cohort. The 

 alarm spread at the same instant in the interior of the nest, and 

 their companions rushed out in crowds from all the subterranean 

 passages. The russet ants, the body of whose army was only two 

 paces distant, hastened to arrive at the foot of the nest ; the whole 

 troop precipitated itself forward at the same time, and knocked 

 the ashy-black ants head over heels, who, after a very short, but 

 very smart combat, retired to the extremity of the habitation. 

 The russet ants clambered up the sides of the hillock, flocked to 

 the summit, and introduced themselves in great numbers into the 

 first avenues ; other groups worked with their teeth, making a 

 lateral aperture. In this they succeeded, and the rest of the army 

 penetrated through the breach into the besieged city. They did 

 not make a long stay there; in three or four minutes the russet 

 ants came out again in haste, by the same adits, carrying each one 

 in its mouth a pupa or larva belonging to the conquered. They 

 again took exactly the same road by which they had come, and 

 followed each other in a straggling manner; their line was 

 easily to be distinguished on the grass by the appearance which 

 this multitude of white shells and pupae, carried by as many russet- 

 coloured ants, presented. They passed through the hedge a 

 second time, crossed the road, and then steered their course into a 

 field of ripe wheat, whither, I regret to say, I was unable to follow 

 them."* 



Huber adds that having returned to the pillaged nest to 

 examine it more closely, he saw some ashy-black workers bring- 

 ing back to their home the few larvae which they had succeeded 

 in saving. Having later discovered the nest of these Amazons, 

 which is the name he gives to the warrior ants, he found there 

 many of the ashy-black ants living on very good terms with their 

 kidnappers. 



The Amazons begin their expeditions at the end of June, 

 during the hottest hours of the day. They come out in long 

 * " Recherches sur les Moeurs des Fourmis indigenes." Paris, 1810, p. 210. 



