PERFECT SOCIETIFS OF INSECTS. 67 
abroad feed those which remain in the nest; and if they 
discover any stock of favourite food, they inform the 
whole community, as we have seen above, and teach 
them the way to it. M. Huber, for a particular reason, 
having produced heat, by means of a flambeau, in a cer- 
tain part of an artificial formicary, the ants that happened 
to be in that quarter, after enjoying it for a time, hasten- 
ed to convey the welcome intelligence to their compa- 
triots, whom they even carried suspended upon their 
jaws (their usual mode of transporting each other) to the 
spot, till hundreds might be seen thus laden with their 
friends. 
If ants feel the force of love, they are equally suscep- 
tible of the emotions of anger; and when they are me- 
naced or attacked, no insects show a greater degree of 
it. Providence, moreover, has furnished them with wea- 
pons and faculties which render it extremely formidable 
to their insect enemies, and sometimes, as I have related 
on a former occasion, a great annoyance to man him- 
self?. Two strong mandibles arm their mouth, with 
which they sometimes fix themselves so obstinately to 
the object of their attack, that they will sooner be torn 
limb from limb than let go their hold ;—and after their 
battles, the head of a conquered enemy may often be seen 
suspended to the antennae or legs of the victor,—a tro- 
phy of his valour, which, however troublesome, he will 
be compelled to carry about with him to the day of his 
death. Their abdomen is also furnished with a poison- 
bag (Joteriwm), in which is secreted a powerful and veno- 
4 Vou. I. 4th Ed. p. 122. 
FQ 
