PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 331 



When, from their proximity, they are more readily to be come at than 

 those of the negroes, they sometimes assault with the same view the nest 

 of another species of ant, which I shall call the miners (F. cunicularia). 



This species being more courageous than the other, on this account the 

 rufescent host marches to the attack in closer order than usual, moving 

 with astonishing rapidity. As soon as they begin to enter their habitation, 

 myriads of the miners rushing out fall upon them with great fury ; while 

 others, well aware of their purpose, making a passage through the midst 

 of them, carry off* in their mouth the larvae and pupae. The surface of 

 the nest thus becomes the scene of an obstinate conflict, and the assailants 

 are often deprived of the prey which they had seized. The miners dart 

 upon them, fight them foot to foot, dispute every inch of their territory, 

 and defend their progeny with unexampled courage and rage. When the 

 rufescents, laden with pillage, retire, they do it in close order a precau- 

 tion highly necessary, since their valiant enemies, pursuing them, impede 

 their progress for a considerable distance from their residence. 



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, and carrying off in different directions, to a place of 

 security, some the young brood, and others their females that are newly 

 excluded : but when the danger is wholly passed, they bring them back to 

 their city, the gates of which they barricade, and remain in great numbers 

 near them to guard the entrance. 



Formica sanguinea, as I observed above, is another of the slave-making 

 ants ; and its proceedings merit separate notice, since they differ consider- 

 ably from those of the rufescents. They construct their nests under 

 hedges of a southern aspect, and likewise attack the hills both of the 



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 progress, but only coursing about : but after a few minutes' 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 between 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 burthen. Most that I ob- 

 served seemed to have pupa3. I then traced the expedition back to the spot from 

 which I first saw them set out, which according to my steps was about 156 feet 

 from the negro formicary. The whole business was transacted in little more than 

 an hour. Though I could trace the ants back to a certain spot in the ridge before 

 mentioned, where they first appeared in the long grass, I did not succeed in finding 

 the entrance to their nest, so that I was deprived of the pleasure of seeing the 

 mixed society. As we dined at an auberge close to the spot, I proposed renewing 

 my researches after dinner ; but a violent tempest of thunder and rain, though I 

 attempted it, prevented my succeeding; and afterwards I had no opportunity of 

 revisiting the place. 



M. Latreille very justly observes that it is physically impossible for the rufescent 

 ants (Polyergus nifescens), on account of the form of their jaws, and the accessory 

 parts of their mouth, either to prepare habitations for their family, to procure food, 

 or to feed them. Considerations nouvelles, &c., p. 408. 



