80 PERFECT SOCIETIES OK INSECTS. 
When from their proximity they are more readily to 
be come at than those of the negroes, they sometimes 
assault with the same view the nest of another species 
of ant, which I shall call the miners (J. cunicularia, L.). 
This species being more courageous than the other, on 
this account the rufescent host marches to the attack in 
closer order than usual, moving with astonishing ra- 
pidity. As soon as they begin to enter their habitation, 
myriads of the miners rushing out fall upon them with 
great fury; while others, well aware of their purpose, 
minutes delay, as if they had received some intelligence, they re- 
sumed their march and soon arrived at a negro nest, which they en- 
tered by one or two apertures. We could not observe that any ne- 
groes were expecting their attack outside the nest, but in a short 
time a few came out at another opening, and seemed to be making 
their escape. Perhaps some conflict might have taken place within 
the nest, in the interval between the appearance of these negroes 
and the entry of their assailants. However this might be, in a few 
minutes one of the latter made its appearance with a pupa in its 
mouth; it was followed by three or four more; and soon the whole 
army began to emerge as fast as it could, almost every individual car- 
rying its burthen. Most that I observed seemed to have pupz. I then 
traced the expedition back to the spot from which I first saw them 
set out, which according to my steps was about 156 feet from the 
negro formicary. The whole business was transacted in little more 
than an hour. Though I could trace the ants back to a certain spot 
in the ridge before mentioned, where they first appeared in the long 
grass, I did not succeed in finding the entrance to their nest, so that 
I was deprived of the pleasure of seeing the mixed society. As we 
dined at an auberge close to the spot, I proposed renewing my re- 
searches after dinner; but a violent tempest of thunder and rain, 
though I attempted it, prevented my succeeding; and afterwards I 
had no opportunity of revisiting the place. 
M. Latreille very justly observes that it is physically impossible 
for the rufescent ants, on account of the form of their jaws and the 
accessory parts of the mouth, either to prepare habitations for their 
family, to procure food, or to feed them.—Considérations nou- 
velles, §c. p. 408. 
