COMBATS BETWEEN ANTS. 



their vengeance. A neighbour related to me an 

 instance of this unyielding disposition, which he 

 witnessed in one of our lanes. Two parties of 

 these black ants were proceeding from different 

 nests upon a foraging expedition, when the separate 

 bodies happened to meet each other. Neither 

 would give way ; and a violent contest for the 

 passage ensued. After a time the combat ceased, 

 and all animosity subsided, each party retiring to 

 its nest, carrying with it its dead and maimed com- 

 panions. This encounter seemed quite accidental, 

 and the disposition to move in a uniform line, which 

 their meeting prevented, the sole cause of their hos- 

 tility, combat, and mutual injury. The strength 

 of some creatures, especially insects, considering 

 the smallness of their size, is in several instances 

 prodigious. Man, by his reason and power, 

 calls to his aid mechanical means, and other 

 agents, to effect his objects; but unreasoning beings 

 accomplish their purposes by contrivance and bodily 

 powers. The strength of these black ants is mani- 

 fested by the quantity and magnitude of the mate- 

 rials which they collect for their heaps; but the 

 common little red ant (formica rubea), a much 

 smaller creature, gives daily proofs of its abilities 

 to remove heavy substances, equal to any that we 

 meet with. One of these little creatures^ thirty- six 

 of which only weigh a single grain, I have seen 

 bear away the great black fly as its prize, equal to 



