CHAP.X. STRENGTH AND PERSEVERANCE OP ANTS. 343 



distance of near forty feet from their nest ; hut this 

 distance is nothing to those of the red 

 ants of Brazil, which will often be 

 carried, according to our personal ob- 

 servation, to more than one hundred 

 paces in a direct line. From this road, 

 carried in a circuitous direction among 

 the grass and herbage, branch off nu- 

 merous others, all leading eventually 

 to the common nest. Both this and 

 other European species remove all ob- 

 structions from these lines of communication by biting 

 off the herbage and grass which lie in the way, so 

 that they may well be said to mow their walks. Huber 

 mentions that sometimes these roadways are not merely 

 formed by the tread of the ants themselves, but are 

 actually hollowed out by their labour. 



(345.) The strength and perseverance of these little 

 creatures are truly astonishing. What would be thought 

 of a man who, with another on his back, fully 

 double his own weight, should attempt to climb up a 

 tree ? yet such feats will be performed by ants, and 

 with perfect success. We have frequently seen those 

 of America drag off a large dead grasshopper or cock- 

 roach, with the assistance of a few of its comrades, to 

 the entrance of the common nest ; where it would very 

 soon disappear, all the labour having been accom- 

 plished in a few minutes. Mr. Kirby says, " I have 

 in my cabinet a specimen of Colliuris longicollis Lat., 

 to one of the legs of which, a small ant, scarcely a 

 thirtieth part of its bulk, is fixed by its jaws. It had, 

 probably, the audacity to attack this giant compared 

 with itself ; and, obstinately refusing to let go its hold, 

 was starved to death." The same author relates that 

 he once saw two or three ants dragging along a young 

 enake, not dead, which was of the thickness of a goose 

 quill. Nor is their perseverance less remarkable. Pro- 

 fessor Afzelius observed a species of ant at Sierra 

 Leone, which march in columns, exceeding all powers 

 z 4 



