318 HABITS AND INSTINCTS OF ANIMALS. CHAP. X. 



ants whose history we shall subsequently touch upon 

 are known to send out spies in the enemy's quarters; 

 and the movements of the invading army are regulated 

 accordingly. Even upon the march, communications 

 are constantly going on between the van and the rear ; 

 and Huber, upon whose authority this statement rests, 

 expressly asserts that, during the battle, if the invaded 

 appear too strong for their foes, couriers are despatched 

 for reinforcements to retrieve the battle. Bradley re- 

 lates a striking instance of the facility with which ants 

 communicate to each other the discovery of a store of 

 provisions. " A nest of ants, in a nobleman's garden, 

 discovered a closet, many yards within the house, in 

 which conserves were kept, which they constantly at- 

 tended until the nest was destroyed. Some individuals, 

 in their rambles, must have first made the discovery of 

 this depot of sweets, and informed their companions. 

 They always went to the closet by the same track, 

 scarcely varying an inch on either side, though they 

 had to pass through two apartments; nor could the 

 sweeping and cleaning of the rooms discomfit them, or 

 cause them to pursue a different route." 



(323.) When in Tropical America, we had frequent 

 occasion to admire the ingenuity of these little crea- 

 tures, although at no very trifling cost. Some of the 

 first insects we had collected, were stuck upon setting 

 boards ; and these, with the hope of preserving them 

 from the ants, were suspended perpendicularly from 

 the rafters of the room by a single piece of string, upon 

 going to bed. The precaution, however, was of no 

 avail ; for, upon looking to them next morning, we had 

 the mortification of seeing the board covered with small 

 black ants, who had destroyed nearly every specimen 

 in the night, and were then busily passing and re- 

 passing the piece of thin string by which the setting 

 board was suspended. But the rnost curious part of 

 their proceedings follows : As the board was hung 

 perpendicularly, it naturally resulted that the legs and 

 wings of the specimens, so soon as the body to which 



