320 DIVISION III. ARTICULATED ANIMALS.—CLASS IV. INSECTA. 
“On the 17th of June, 1804,” says he, “as I was walking in the environs 
of Geneva, between four and five in the afternoon, I saw at my feet a legion 
of Jargish Russet Ants crossing the road; they penetrated through a very 
thick hedge, and went into a meadow, whither I followed them. They 
wound their way along the turf without straying, and their column remained 
always continuous, in spite of the obstacles which they had to surmount. 
Very soon they arrived near a nest of Ashy-black Ants, whose dome rose 
among the grass, at twenty paces from the hedge. A few ants of this spe- 
cies were at the door of their habitation. As soon as they descried the 
army which was approaching, they threw themselves on those which were 
at the head of the cohort. The alarm spread at the same instant in the 
interior of the nest, and their companions rushed out in crowds from all the 
subterranean passages. The Russet Ants, the body of whose army was 
only two paces distant, hastened to arrive at the foot of the nest; the whole 
troop precipitated itself forward at the same time, and knocked the Ashy- 
black Ants head over heels, who, after a very short but very smart combat, 
retired to the extremity of the habitation. The Russet Ants clambered up 
the sides of the hillock, flocked to the summit, and introduced themselves 
in great numbers into the first avenues; other groups worked with their 
teeth, making a lateral aperture. In this they succeeded, and the rest of 
the army penetrated through the breach into the besieged city. They did 
not make a long stay there; in three or four minutes the Russet Ants came 
out again in haste, by the same adits, carrying each one in its mouth a pupa 
or larva belonging to the conquered. They again tock exactly the same 
road by which they had come, and followed each other in a straggling man- 
ner; their line was easily to be distinguished on the grass by the appearance 
which this multitude of white cocoons and larva, carried by as many Rus- 
set-colored Ants, presented. They passed through the hedge a second time, 
crossed the road, and then steered their course into a field of ripe wheat, 
whither, I regret to say, [ was unable to follow them.” 
Huber adds that, having returned to the pillaged nest to examine it more 
closely, he saw some Ashy-black workers bringing back to their home the 
few larve which they had succeeded in saving. Tlaving later discovered the 
nest of these Amazons, — which is the name he gives to the warrior ants, — 
he found there many of the Ashy-black Ants living on very good terms with 
their kidnappers. 
The Amazons begin their expeditions at the end of June, during the hot- 
test hours of the day. They come out in long files, eight or ten abreast, 
preceded by their scouts. These columns start at a run, in a straight line, 
and without feeling their way. They have no chieftain. The van is re- 
formed every moment. 
