328 HABITS AND INSTINCTS OP ANIMALS. CHAP. X* 



compact order in their retreat as in their advance ; for 

 their indignant enemies will frequently pursue them, 

 and harass their retreat for a considerable distance. 

 " During these combats, the pillaged ant-hill presents, 

 in miniature, the spectacle of a besieged city : hundreds 

 of its inhabitants may be seen making their escape, 

 some carrying off in different directions, to a place of 

 security, the young brood, while others take care of 

 the females which are newly excluded j but when the 

 danger is wholly past, they bring them back to their 

 city, the gates of which they barricade," and station a 

 strong detachment to defend the entrances. The assault 

 which Mr. Kirby witnessed in the Sois de Boulogne, 

 near Paris, made by the rufous ants upon a colony of 

 the negroes, seems not to have been conducted, on the 

 part of the latter, with their usual courage. The as- 

 sailants marched rapidly from their nest, in two co- 

 lumns, " all the while exploring the ground with their 

 antennae, as beagles with their noses, evidently as if in 

 pursuit of game. Those in the van," as Huber also 

 observed, " kept perpetually falling back into the main 

 body. When they had passed this inclosure, they 

 appeared for some time to be at a loss, making no pro- 

 gress, but only coursing about ; but, after a few mi- 

 nutes delay, as if they had received some intelligence, 

 they resumed their march, and soon arrived at a 

 negro nest, which they entered by one or two apertures. 

 We could not observe that any negroes were expecting 

 their attack outside the nest ; but, in a short time, a 

 few came out at another opening, and seemed to be 

 making their escape. Perhaps some conflict might 

 have taken place within the nest, in the interval be- 

 tween the appearance of these negroes and the entry of 

 their assailants. However this might be, in a few 

 minutes one of the latter made its appearance with a 

 pupa in its mouth ; it was followed by three or four 

 more ; and soon the whole army began to emerge as 

 fast as it could, almost every individual carrying its 

 burden. Most of those I observed seemed to have 



