ANTS AND ANT LIFE. 141 



slaves succeed in gradually quieting them down, and they 

 are then able to find their way home, whereas during their 

 fury they are incapable of doing this and run hither and 

 thither as though they were mad. About twenty Amazons, 

 are generally enough to put to flight a crowd of enemies 

 fifty times their number. Forel saw a small division of 

 Amazons, numbering less than a hundred individuals, sepa- 

 rate themselves from a great marauding expedition, and 

 march against a very large nest of F. ruftbarbis. Before reach- 

 ing it they stopped still for a few moments as though 

 frightened at their own boldness, and seemed to meditate. 

 But they then flung themselves into the midst of their 

 thousands of enemies, under whose numbers they soon dis- 

 appeared. Several were seen to penetrate into the nest itself, 

 in spite of the heavy hostile columns pressing out of it. 

 Forel did not expect to see a single one come out again. 

 The attacked ants appeared little disturbed, seeing the 

 numerical weakness of their foes, and only here and there 

 tried to save a pupa. The assailants, in spite of their 

 audacity were unable to get much, and only about a third 

 were seen returning laden with booty. Two or three Ama- 

 zons were made prisoners, and the small number of the 

 attackers was even useful to them, as the inhabitants of the 

 nest rushed furiously about, without being able to seize 

 them owing to their scattering. Their return was molested 

 for a distance of two or three decimetres. 



That which makes the Amazons so specially dreaded by 

 the other ants is not their matchless courage so much as 

 their manner of battle. They are not contented, like others 

 of their race, with tearing off their enemies' legs, or feelers, 

 or pieces of their bodies, or with biting the latter into pieces, 

 and indeed the peculiar form of their mandibles, already 

 described, renders this impossible ; so they forthwith seize 

 the head of their enemy and pierce it with their sharp 

 strong jaws exactly at the place whereat the brain is situated. 

 This attack generally succeeds and has immediate death as 

 its result. Biit Forel one day saw a veiy large ant, 

 belonging to the species Atta structor, wounded in this way, 

 whose very hard head presented unexpected resistance. The 

 attacking ant finally let its enemy loose, without being able 

 completely to attain its object, and Forel noticed that the 

 wounded ant was unable to move its jaws which had been. 



