274 STRANGE DWELLINGS. 



is one very large flake, that acts as a general roof to the 

 structure. 



Within the nest are placed a number of cells made of the 

 same material as the exterior, and in them maybe found insects 

 in every state of development, eggs in one, larvae in another, 

 and pupae in a third. No provision seems to be laid up within 

 the nest, so that the inhabitants must depend on their daily 

 excursions for their food. 



The insects are extremely small, barely one-fifth of an inch 

 in length, and are reddish in colour. 



Perhaps one of the most terrible of insects is that which is 

 appropriately called the Driver Ant of Western Africa 

 {Anomma arcens). 



This insect is a truly remarkable creature. Although it is to 

 be found in vast numbers, it has never been found in the winged 

 condition, and neither the male nor the female have as yet been 

 discovered. The workers are uniform in colour, but exceedingly 

 variable in size. Their hue is deep brownish black, and their 

 length varies from half an inch to one line, so that the largest 

 workers nearly equal the common earwig, while the smallest are 

 no larger than the familiar red ant of our gardens. In the 

 British Museum are specimens of the workers, which form a 

 regular gradation of size, from the largest to the smallest. 



They are called Driver Ants, because they drive before them 

 every living creature. There is not an animal that can withstand 

 the Driver Ants. In their march, they carry destruction before 

 them, and every beast knows instinctively that it must not cross 

 their track. They have been known to destroy even the agile 

 monkey, when their swarming hosts had once made a lodgment 

 on its body, and when they enter a pigstye, they soon kill the 

 imprisoned inhabitants, whose tough hides cannot protect them 

 from the teeth of the Driver Ants. Fowls they destroy in 

 numbers, killing in a single night all the inhabitants of the hen- 

 roost, and having destroyed them, have a curious method of 

 devouring them. 



The Rev. Dr. Savage, who has experimented upon these for- 



