NATURAL HISTORY. 147 



of 1804, when he saw quite an army of these 

 legionary ants crossing the road ; they passed 

 through a thick hedge, entered a pasture, and 

 kept on through the grass without separating ; 

 and Mr. Huber followed them until he saw 

 them come near a nest of negro ants. Some 

 of these negro ants seemed to be guarding 

 the holes into their nest ; but as soon as they 

 saw the legionaries, they, with a great many 

 more from the inside of the nest, attacked the 

 thieves. The legionary ants, however, were 

 too powerful for them, and after a short but 

 severe fight they conquered the negroes, who 

 ran into the lower part of their nests. The 

 legionaries then mounted their ant-hill, some 

 entered it by the holes already made, and others 

 began with their teeth to break other holes, 

 so that all the army might get into the hill. 

 They went in and remained but a few min- 

 utes, when they came out, each one having 

 in his mouth a young negro ant, and off they 

 scampered, without any order among them, 

 every one going his own way, until Mr. 

 Huber lost sight of them. The next day he 

 set out to go back and examine further, and 

 on his way he found a large ant-hill full of 

 legionaries, and saw an army start from it, 



