DRIVER ANTS. 453 



and then poured upon them a few gallons of boiling water, which 

 was instantaneously fataL As for cold water, they seem to care 

 little for it ; having been immersed for twelve hours, and although 

 they were apparently dead when removed, yet they soon re- 

 covered themselves, and ran about as lively as ever. Their 

 tenacity of life is indeed wonderful, and injuries which would 

 immediately kill almost any creature seem to have no imme- 

 diate effect upon their vigour. Another fact, illustrating their 

 tenacity of life, may here be stated. 



" The head of one of the largest class, when dissevered from the 

 body, grasped the finger of an attendaut so furiously, as to cause 

 an immediate flow of blood. It was left in a glass tumbler from 

 three p. m. till the next morning at eight o'clock, when the finger 

 was again applied, and apparently as severe a wound as before 

 inflicted. Another individual of the same class was decapitated 

 at seven A.M., and at half-past nine next morning, twenty-six and 

 a half hours from the time of decapitation, a piece of newspaper 

 was held between the jaws, which it grasped and retained with 

 considerable force. 



" I then applied the small finger of my right hand, which it bit 

 severely ; indeed, so powerful was the grasp, that the point of 

 the mandibles met beneath the cuticle. It then partly withdrew 

 one mandible, and, pointing it more perpendicularly, penetrated 

 deeper than the other, and thus at every stroke giving to the 

 mandible a direction more_ vertical, wounding and cutting wider 

 and deeper, precisely in the manner of the insect in possession of 

 all its parts and powers. The sensation at each thrust was like 

 that of a pin, and equally painful; and when the mandibles 

 were withdrawn, the blood flowed as freely. The head continued 

 to give signs of life for more than thirty-six hours after decapi- 

 tation. The body to which it belonged lived still longer, or more 

 than forty-eight hours." 



It is a very remarkable fact that the insect shoiild be so 

 tenacious of life imder circumstances that would be instantly 

 fatal to most creatures, and yet should die suddenly under con- 

 ditions in which many insects live and thrive. The reader will 

 remember that the direct action of the sun's rays will kill the 

 Driver Ant in less than two minutes, and yet there are ants 

 of the same country which run about freely in the blazing sun- 

 shine, traversing with impunity the heated ground, which blisters 



