78 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 
ject of which is probably to excite their martial ardour, 
to give the word for marching, or to indicate the route 
they are to take. The advanced guard usually consists 
of eight or ten ants; but no sooner do these get beyond | 
the rest, than they move back, wheeling round in a 
semicircle, and mixing with the main body, while others 
succeed to their station. They have “no captain, over- 
seer, or ruler,” as Solomon observes, their army being 
composed entirely of neuters, without a single female : 
thus all in their turns take their place at the head, and 
then retreating towards the rear, make room for others. 
This is the usual order of their march; and the object 
of it may be to communicate intelligence more readily 
from one part of the column to another. 
When winding through the grass of a meadow they 
have proceeded to thirty feet or more from their own 
habitation, they disperse; and, like dogs with their 
noses, explore the ground with their antennze to detect 
the traces of the game they are pursuing. ‘The negro 
formicary, the object of their search, is soon discovered ; 
some of the inhabitants are usually keeping guard at the 
avenues, which dart upon the foremost of their assailants 
with inconceivable fury. The alarm increasing, crowds 
of its swarthy inhabitants rush forth from every apart- 
ment; but their valour is exerted in vain; for the be- 
slegers, precipitating themselves upon them, by the 
ardour of their attack compel them to retreat within, 
and seek shelter in the lowest story; great numbers en-: 
tering with them at the gates, while others with their 
mandibles make a breach in the walls, through which 
the victorious army marches into the besieged city. In 
a few minutes, by the same passages, they as hastily 
