Sept., 1908.] Burrill : A Slave-making Foray. 149 



the amazons half-way to the pillaged nest, and they accomplished the 

 remaining distance in ten minutes, we judged that they must have 

 traversed the first half in ten minutes, for although the first half was 

 uphill, it was much smoother travelling than the latter or downhill 

 half which led through the grass. So twenty minutes seemed a fair 

 calculation for the outward trip. This is eight and three fourths feet 

 a minute or one and three fourths inches a second, as compared with Dr. 

 Forel's calculation of one and one half inches a second. (Things go 

 swifter in America !) As the ants returned heavily laden at a scarcely 

 lessened speed, we may suppose that they were certainly good for an 

 hour of such speed without burdens, or 525 feet in an hour. This is 

 525/5,280 mile an hour or .1 mile. This would be about a mile a 

 day of say twelve hours travel during the warm weather. The bashi- 

 konay or army ant of Africa is said to advance about as fast as a man 

 can walk, which seems slightly exaggerated, but if true, is certainly at 

 a much greater speed than these ants display. 



Compared with man, the ant may be said to be about a quarter 

 inch long as against six feet or 288/4 inches for man. Then, roughly, 

 a man would have to travel 288 times as far as an ant in the same 

 hour, or 288 X 525 feet (151,200 feet) or 28 T 7 T miles an hour, a gait 

 too rapid for most athletes ! If the comparison had been made on 

 the basis of comparative bulks or weights, it would be immensely 

 more disproportionate to man's abilities.* 



Now this human test of 2 8 T 7 T miles an hour is not on level 

 ground, but to imitate climbing grass stalks, leaves, pebbles, etc., 

 would be for man a cross-country run over fences, hillocks, boulders, 

 etc., uphill half the way and downhill the other half. 



Further notes on the condition of the colony after the foray and 

 during the succeeding days are summarized as follows : 



At 6 p. m. no amazon was outside the nest ; six slaves were bring- 

 ing out earth at their accustomed nervous rate ; and two lucidus queens 

 — large, mahogany-red, winged, female ants — came out, sunned 

 themselves a moment, and returned. The pillaged nest was wholly 

 deserted. 



*I did not see Professor Forel's figures until the last week of April, 1908, as 

 given in W. F. Kirby's " Marvels of Ant Life," p. 17, where he gives the speed as 

 \ x / 2 inches a second, or for man 22 miles an hour, evidently reckoning ihe average 

 man at 5 ft. 4^ in., which seems to me as much too low as my standard 6 ft. may 

 be too high. 



