Ants and Termites. 



other promising hunting-ground, pour into the crevices 

 in search of booty. I have traced their arcades occa- 

 sionally for a distance of one or two hundred yards ; 

 the grains of earth are taken from the soil over which 

 the column is passing, and are fitted together without 

 cement. It is this last-mentioned feature that dis- 

 tinguishes them from the similar covered roads made 

 by Termites, who use their glutinous saliva to cement 

 the grains together. The blind Ecitons, working in 

 numbers, build up simultaneously the sides of their 

 convex arcades, and contrive in a surprising manner 

 to approximate them and fit in the keystones without 

 letting the loose, uncemented structure fall to pieces." 



Ants are not only expert miners, builders, and agri- 

 culturists, but some are great warriors and slave-makers. 

 It would not be within the scope of the present work 

 to go into all the curious habits of these warlike races, 

 for we are considering the ants as master-builders rather 

 than as victorious soldiers ; but no account of the 

 labours of these most deeply interesting insects would 

 be complete without some reference to their tribal wars, 

 and therefore the following instance of a successful raid, 

 as witnessed and described by Hiiber, may serve as 

 an example. " As I was walking in the environs of 

 Geneva," writes Hiiber, " between four and five in the 

 afternoon, I saw at my feet a legion of largish russet 

 ants crossing the road. They were marching in a body 

 with rapidity ; their troop occupied a space of from 

 eight to ten feet long by three or four inches wide. In 

 a few minutes they had entirely evacuated the road; 

 they penetrated through a very thick hedge, and went 

 into a meadow, whither I followed them. They wound 



(1,910) 



