PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 71 
ponents, as if it was unhurt. This did not look like lan- 
guor or sickness. 
The wars of ants that are not of the same species take 
place usually between those that differ in size; and the 
great endeavouring to oppress the small are nevertheless 
often outnumbered by them, and defeated. Their bat- 
tles haye long been celebrated, and the date of them, as 
if it were an event of the first importance, has been 
formally recorded. Aineas Sylvius, afier giving a very 
circumstancial account of one contested with great ob- 
stinacy by a great and small species on the trunk of a 
pear-tree, gravely states, ‘ This action was fought in the 
pontificate of Eugenius the Fourth, in the presence of 
Nicholas Pistoriensis, an eminent lawyer, who related 
the whole history of the battle with the greatest fidelity !” 
A similar engagement between great and small ants is 
recorded by Olaus Magnus, in which the small ones be- 
ing victorious are said to have buried the bodies of their 
own soldiers, but left those of their giant enemies a prey 
to the birds. This event happened previous to the expul- 
sion of the tyrant Christiern the Second from Sweden?. 
M. P. Huber is the only modern author that appears 
to have been witness to these combats. He tells us that, 
when the great attack the small, they seek to take them 
by surprise, (probably to avoid their fastening themselves 
to their legs,) and, seizing them by the upper part of the 
body, they strangle them with their mandibles; but 
when the small have time to foresee the attack, they 
give notice to their companions, who rush in crowds 
to their succour. Sometimes, however, after suffering a 
signal defeat, the smaller species are obliged to shift 
a Mouftet, Whealr. Ins. 242. 
