124 HOMKS WITHOUT HANDS. 



these strange creatures from the enormous depths of the mine 

 reminded me, when I first observed them, of the Cyclopes of 

 Homeric fable. They were not veiy pugnacious, as I feared they 

 would be, and I had no difficulty in securing a few with my 

 fingers. I never saw them under any other circumstances than 

 those here related, and what their special functions may be I 

 cannot divine.'' 



The subterranean galleries which these creatures form are of 

 almost incredible extent — so vast, indeed, and so complicated, that 

 they have never been fully investigated. A conjecture as to 

 their size may be formed from the fact, that when sulphur smoke 

 was blown into a nest, one of the outlets was detected at a dis- 

 tance of seventy yards. The Satiba has often done considerable 

 damage to property, having pierced the embankment of a large 

 reservoir, and let out all the water before the damage could be 

 detected. 



The winged class is composed of the perfect male and female, 

 which take their departure from the nest in January and 

 February. They are quite unlike the other workers and soldiers, 

 being larger and darker, with rounder bodies and a more bee- 

 like aspect. The female is a really large insect, measuring more 

 than two inches in expanse of wing, and the body being equal in 

 size to a hornet ; but the male is much smaller, as is generally 

 the custom with the insect race. Of the hosts which pour out 

 of the nests, only a few individuals remain after a space of 

 twelve hours, the nest having been devoured by birds and other 

 insect-eating creatures. Those which survive address themselves 

 to the founding of new colonies ; and so prolific are these insects, 

 that, in spite of the vast destruction wrought among the winged 

 individuals, to whom alone the task of reproduction belongs, 

 man often has to retire before them, and even his art cannot 

 conquer them. 



The Saiiba is one of the very few ants that does not attack 

 other creatures. The real Deiver, or Visiting, or Foraging 

 Ant, of which there are several species, belongs to another 

 genus, Eciton, which will be described among the building- 

 insects. 



Most of the British ants are among the burrowers, hollowing 

 out subterranean abodes of great extent, and constructing them 



