PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECT'S. 69 
itself, stiffening its legs into a nearly straight line, it gives 
its body the utmost elevation it is capable of; and thus 
* Collecting all its might dilated stands” 
prepared to repel your attack. Put your finger a little 
nearer, it immediately opens its jaws to bite you, and 
rearing upon its hind-legs bends its abdomen between 
them, to ejaculate its venom into the wound ?. 
This angry people, so well armed and so courageous, 
we may readily imagine are not always at peace with 
their neighbours; causes of dissention may arise to light 
the flame of war between the inhabitants of nests not far 
distant from each other. To these little bustling creatures 
a square foot of earth is a territory worth contending for ; 
—their droves of Aphides equally valuable with the flocks 
and herds that cover our plains; and the body of a fly 
or a beetle, or a cargo of straws and bits of stick, an ac- 
quisition as Important us the treasures of a Lima fleet 
to our seamen. ‘Their wars are usually between nests 
of different species; sometimes, however, those of the 
same, when so near as to interfere with and incommode 
each other, have their battles; and with respect to ants 
of one species, Myrmica rubra, combats occasionally take 
place, contrary to the general habits of the tribe of ants, 
between those of the same nest. I shall give you some 
account of all these conflicts, beginning with the last. 
But I must first observe, that the only warriors amongst 
our ants are the neuters or workers; the males and fe- 
males being very peaceable creatures, and always glad 
to get out of harm’s way. 
The wars of the red ant (M. rubra) are usually be- 
* See Fourcroy, Annales du Muséum, no. 5, 343, 
