48 TWO CHAPTERS ON ANTS. 



Dr. M'Cook, with his assistants, make a raid 

 on a portion of their city, which was done 

 so promptly and energetically that the ants 

 were completely nonplussed, not acting on 

 the defensive at all. The centre of the 

 mound was quickly cut through with a saw, 

 and then with spades one-half was thrown 

 aside, leaving the other standing, which 

 showed the admirable arrangement of the 

 various chambers and galleries leading to 

 them. 



The mounds seem to be the nurseries 

 where the helpless larvae are fed and nour- 

 ished : immense numbers were exposed to 

 view, which the ants .seized and carried to 

 chambers below, concealing them from our 

 sight ; so solicitous were they for the young 

 that not one of our party was attacked, al- 

 though we stood directly in their midst. 



On the 23d of July the last great raid was 

 made by the slave-makers, but up to the 

 20th of August they went out iu detach- 

 ments two or three hundred strong, despoil- 

 ing the homes of the little yellow workers 

 mentioned above. Sometimes two or three 

 such detachments would start out in diifer- 

 ent directions, each company keeping by 

 itself and moving in line, precisely as the 

 large army did earlier in the season. The 



