340 HABITS AND INSTINCTS OP ANIMALS. CHAP. X,' 



vice. f( With this view they eagerly accost several 

 fellow citizens of their own order, caress them with 

 their antennae, lead them by their mandibles, and 

 evidently appear to propose the journey to them. If 

 they seem disposed to accompany them., the recruiting 

 officer for so he may be called prepares to carry 

 off his recruit ; who, suspending himself by his man- 

 dibles, hangs coiled up spirally under his neck : all this 

 passes in an amicable manner, after mutual salutations. 

 Sometimes, however, the recruiter takes the other by 

 surprise, and drags him suddenly from the ant-hill, 

 without giving him time to consider or resist. When 

 arrived at the proposed habitation, the suspended ant 

 uncoils itself, and, quitting its conductor, becomes in its 

 turn a recruiter. The pair return to the old nest, and 

 each carries off a fresh recruit, which, being arrived at. 

 the spot, joins in the undertaking ; thus the number of 

 recruiters keeps progressively increasing, till the path 

 between the new and the old city is full of goers and 

 comers, each of the former laden with a recruit. What 

 a singular and amusing scene is then exhibited of the 

 little people thus employed ! When an emigration of 

 a rufescent colony is going forward, the negroes are 

 seen carrying their masters; and the contrast of the 

 red with the black renders it peculiarly striking. This 

 extraordinary scene continues several days ; but when 

 all the neuters are acquainted with the road to the new 

 city, the recruiting ceases. As soon as a sufficient 

 number of apartments to contain them are prepared, 

 the young brood, with the males and the females, are 

 conveyed thither, and the whole business is concluded. 

 When the spot thus selected for their residence is at a 

 considerable distance from the old nest, the ants con- 

 struct some intermediate receptacles, resembling small 

 ant-hills, consisting of a cavity filled with fragments of 

 straw and other materials, in which they form several 

 cells ; and here, at first, they deposit their recruits, 

 males, females, and infant brood, which they after- 

 wards conduct to the final settlement. These inter- 



