ORDER IX. HYMENOPTERA.— CURIOUS HABITS OF ANTS. aval 
Those who are in front do not remain there; at the end of a certain time 
they go and range themselves in the rear, and are replaced by those which 
were behind. ‘The whole troop is thus in constant communication through- 
out its entire length. Rarely does the expedition divide into two bodies. 
Arrived under the walls of the fortress, the column halts and masses itself 
into one corps. The assault is made with incredibie impetuosity. In the 
twinkling of an eye the place is escaladed, taken by storm, and pillaged, 
and the Ashy-black Ants are either put to flight or led away into captivity. 
The same ant-hill may be invaded as many as three times running on the 
same day; but then the Ashy-black Ants, on their guard, have barricaded 
themselves in, and in that case the aggressors return home without pillaging 
them. 
The Mining Ants are less timid than the Ashy-black, and, as they defend 
themselves with more energy, there are frequently deadly combats, and the 
field of battle is left covered with heads, legs, and limbs scattered about, 
here and there, with the dead and wounded. The Miners pursue the pil- 
lagers, and snatch their plunder from them. But they are sometimes driven 
back vigorously, and the Russet Ants gain their lair with their plunder. 
The tactics of the Red Ants (Formica sanguinea) differ from those of 
the Russet. They only sally forth in small detachments, which begin by 
engaging in skirmishes with the scouts thrown out round the enemy’s ant- 
hill. Couriers, despatched from time to time to the camp of the Red Ants, 
bring up reénforcements. When the troop feels itself sufficiently strong, it 
invades the nest of the Ashy-black Ants, and carries off their offspring, 
which the latter have not had time to secure. Sometimes, also, the Red 
Ants install themselves in the nest whose inhabitants they have ejected, and 
transfer their own population to it. The motive for this emigration is, that 
the old nest has become useless, or that it is exposed to some danger. The 
Red Ants are not the only ants which thus desert their birthplace. Many 
species abandon it likewise for analogous motives, and construct elsewhere 
another dwelling, to which they transport all the population of the first 
nest. 
The species are very numerous. 
Vespa. — The Wasps. These insects inhabit all lands, and may be easily 
distinguished by having the upper wings longitudinally folded while at rest, 
and a pedunculated abdomen, terminated by a concealed sting. Their larvae 
resemble those of the bee, and their history is also similar in many respects. 
They live in societies; the individuals share in common their labors and 
danger. In general they construct their habitations with a sort of paper, 
which they manufacture from vegetable fibres, agglutinated by a sort of 
gum. The cells, in form, are similar to those of the honey-comb, and are 
