FOEAGINO ANTS. 367 



better, and even the formidable weapons of the scorpion and 

 centipede are overcome by their pertinacious foes. 



In a wonderfully short time, the Foraging Ants have com- 

 pleted their work, the scene of turmoil gradually ceases, the 

 scattered parties again form into Une, and the procession moves 

 out of the house, carrying its spoils in triumph. The raid is 

 most complete, and when the inhabitants return to the house, 

 they iind every intruder gone, and to their great comfort are 

 enabled to move about without treading on some unpleasant 

 creature, and to put on their shoes without previously knocking 

 them against the floor for the purpose of shaking out the scor- 

 pions and similar visitors. 



In the illustration a column of Foraging Ants is seen winding 

 its way through a wood. Every one who is accustomed to the 

 country takes particular care not to cross one of these columns. 

 The Foraging Ants are tetchy creatures, and not having the least 

 notion of fear, are terrible enemies even to human beings. Tf a 

 man should happen to cross a column, the ants immediately 

 dash at him, running up his legs, biting fiercely with their 

 powerful jaws, and injecting poison into the wound. The only 

 plan of action in such a case, is, to run away at top speed until 

 the main body are too far off to renew the attack, and then to 

 destroy the ants that are already in action. This is no easy task, 

 for the fierce little insects drive their hooked mandibles so 

 deeply into the flesh that they are generally removed piecemeal, 

 the head retauiing its hold after the body has been pulled away, 

 and the mandibles clasped so tightly that they must be pinched 

 from the head and detached separately. 



There seems to be scarcely a creature which these insects will 

 not attack, and they will even go out of their way to fall upon 

 the nests of the large and formidable wasps of that country. 

 For the thousand stings the ants care not a jot, but tear awav 

 the substance of their nest with their powerful jaws, penetrate 

 into the interior, break down the cells, and drag out the helpless 

 young. Should they meet an adult wasp, they fall upon it, and 

 cut it to pieces in a moment. 



Another species, Eciton prcedator, does not form long and 

 narrow columns, but marches in a broad and solid phalanx. It is 

 but a little creature, no bigger than the common red ant of 

 England. It is, however, of a brighter red colour, and when a 



