332 



F A R ]\I E R S ' REGISTER. 



[No. 6 



inhnbitants, and carried off tlieir prize to the gar- 

 rison." 



In these attacks the leirionaries never take the 

 old negroes prisoners, knowing perhaps that at an 

 adult age the love of home, with all its associa- 

 tions, would be sad obstacles to transplantation ; 

 nor is their contest attended with loss of blood ; 

 they seek the young, and these being obtained, 

 they speedily decamp with their booty. Nor do 

 they ever begin their predatory warfare belbre the 

 end of May, or beginning of June ; if they com- 

 menced at an earlier period to purloin the young 

 negroes, they might secure a large supply of cap- 

 tives, but then it would principall}' consist of males 

 and lemales, and these it seems nature does not 

 permit them to seize: lijr she has ordained that, 

 in the ant-hills destined to pillage, the males and 

 females shall be produced earlier than the males 

 and females shall be produced earlier than the 

 males and females of the legionaries; and it is 

 only after their own males and females have un- 

 dergone the last change, that the instinct which 

 prompts them to steal the young of others begins to 

 operate. Hence, Huber has distinctly ascertained, 

 and Latreille has confirmed the discovery, that the 

 legionarj^ ant-hill contains male, female, and neu- 

 ter amazons, together with negro-neuters, but ne- 

 ver negro males or females. The amazon female, 

 after having cast ofi' her wings, lays the founda- 

 tion of lier own nest, and perlorms all the duties of 

 a laborer. There is no doubt that these creatures 

 have the ability to work, and do so ; but as soon 

 as Ihey obtain slaves to do that for them which 

 they ought to do themselves, they relinquish every 

 domestic duty, and during the day "tranquilly 

 wait, at the bottom of their subterranean a- 

 bode, the hour of departure, reserving their 

 strength, courage, and the address vvhich they 

 so well know how to display, for the purposes of 

 ■war." 



On the negroes reared among them they de- 

 pend not only for house and home, but even for 

 food; and these faithful and affectionate servants 

 begrudge neither labor nor pains, in providing for 

 their masters. Huber enclosed thirty amazons 

 with several pupte, and larvaj of their own species 

 and twenty negro pupse in a glass box, the bottom 

 of which was covered with a thick layer of earth ; 

 honej'' was given to them, so that, although cut 

 off from their auxiliaries, the amazons had both 

 Bheiter and food : at first they appeared to pay 

 Korse little attention to the young ; this soon 

 ceased, and theyneifher traced out a dwelling, nor 

 took any food ; in two da3's one-half died of hun- 

 ger, and the other remained weak and languid: 

 commiserating their condition, he o-ave them one 

 of their black companions : this little creature, un- 

 assisted, formed a chamber in the earth, gathered 

 together the larva;, put every thing into complete 

 order, and preserved the liv^es of those which were 

 about to perish. 



In order to obtain a more intimate knowledge 

 of the facts, the same observer of nature opened 

 and deranged an ant-hill in which the ne- 

 groes and amazons dwelt together; in doing so, 

 the aspect of their city was so altered as not to be 

 recognized by the amazons. and they were seen 

 wandering at random over its surface. The ne- 

 groes, however, ajjpeared to be well acquainted 

 with the new localities of the ant-hill, and relieved 

 them ti-om their embarrassment, by taking them 



up gently in their mandibles, and conducting them 

 to the galleries already pierced. "An amazon was 

 frequently seen to approach a negro, and play 

 upon its head with its antennse, when the latter 

 immediately seized the former in its pincers, and 

 deposited it at one of the entrances ; the amazon 

 ant then unrolled itself", caressed once more its 

 kind friend, and passed into the interior of the 

 nest; and then the negro lost its way too, and 

 wandered about carrying the amazon. 



"I observed one," continues Huber, "afier inef- 

 fectual vvindings, lake the precaution of laying its 

 burden on the ground: the amazon remained on 

 the same spot until the negro returned to its as- 

 sistance, which having well ascertained and ex- 

 amined one of" the entrances, resumed its load, 

 and bore it into the interior." 



If the entrance to any gallery happened to be 

 obstructed, the negro, depositing its burden, went 

 to remove the obstruction, and again taking up the 

 amazon, introduced it into the nest. It often hap- 

 pens that the ant-liill is not sufficiently commo- 

 dious, in this case the negroes alone decide upon 

 the expediency of a removal, and choose a spot 

 for the new dwelling ; they set about building, and 

 as soon as the works are sufliciently advanced, 

 appear eager to conduct the legionaries to the new 

 city : for this purpose, each negro takes up an am- 

 azon, which it cariies to the chosen spot, so that 

 a long line of these faithful creatures may be seen 

 extendino' all the way from the old to the new 

 town ; their charges are then deposited at the va- 

 rious entrances, when other negroes come out, 

 welcome their arrival, and usher them into the in- 

 terior of their new abode. 



The negro is not the only species of ant subju- 

 gated by the legionaries. The mining ants are 

 attacked for a similar purpose ; but as these are 

 a much more resolute race than the pacific ash- 

 colored tribe, the legionaries are obliged to vary 

 their tactics. 



In one of these forays, the amazons," says Hu- 

 ber, "proceeded like a torrent along a deep dike, 

 and marched in a more compact body than ordina- 

 ry, and in a short time reached the nest they pro- 

 posed to attack. As soon as the legionaries began 

 entering the subterranean city, the miners rushed 

 out in crowds, and while some fell upon the inva- 

 ders with great spirit, others passed through the 

 scene of contest solely occupied in bearing of! to a 

 place of safety their larvre and pupa?." 



The amazon army was often despoiled of its 

 booty, but their superiority address and agility at 

 length gave them the advantage, and in a quar- 

 ter of an hour they were seen returning home 

 wards loaded with prey — not, however, straggling, 

 and a file, as after an assault upon the negroes, 

 but in a compact mass ; a precaution so much the 

 more necessary, as the courageous miners disputed 

 every inch of ground, following and attacking 

 them until they arrived within ten paces of the 

 amazonian citadel. 



Besides the amazons, there is another slave- 

 making species, called the yijrmi'm sans;innea ; a 

 species which has not as yet been discovered in 

 this island. They are larger than the legionaries : 

 unlike them, however, they share the labor with 

 their slaves. Their mode of attack is very differ- 

 ent from that of the legionaries ; the latter carry 

 every thing by sheer impetuosity; the former ne- 

 ver j'our in immense masses, but attack in small 



