THE DRIVER ANT. 63 
“They are evidently economists in time and labour ; 
for if a crevice, fissure in the ground, passage under 
stones, &c., come in their way, they will adopt them as a 
substitute for the arch, 
“Tn cloudy days, when on their predatory excursions, 
or migrating, an arch for the protection of the workers is 
constructed of the bodies of their largest class. Their 
widely-extended jaws, long slender limbs, and projecting 
antenne, intertwining, form a sort of network, that seems 
to answer well their object. Whenever an alarm is given, 
the arch is instantly broken, and the ants, joining others 
of the same class on the outside of the line, who seem to 
be acting as commanders, guides, and scouts, run about 
in a furious manner, in pursuit of the enemy. If the 
alarm should prove to be without foundation, the victory 
won, or danger passed, the arch is quickly renewed, and 
the main column marches forward as before, in all the 
order of an intellectual military discipline.” 
Sometimes, as is usual in tropical countries, the rain 
descends like a flood, converting in a few minutes whole 
tracts of country into a temporary lake.. The dwellings 
of the Driver Ant are immediately deluged, and, but for 
a remarkable instinct which is implanted in the insects, 
most of the Ants, and all the future brood, would perish. 
Assoon as the water encroaches upon their premises, they 
run together and agglomerate themselves into balls, the 
weakest (or the ‘‘ women and children,” as the natives call 
them) being in the middle, and the large and powerful 
insects on the outside. These balls are much lighter than 
water, and consequently float on the surface, until the 
floods retire and the insects can resume their place on 
dry land. ; 
The size of the ant-balls is various; but they are, on an 
average, as large as a full-sized cricket-ball. One of these 
