PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 825 
weapons and faculties which render it extremely formidable to their insect 
enemies, and sometimes, as I have related ina former letter, a great annoy- 
ance to man himself. 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 sus- 
pended to the antennz or legs of the victor, a trophy 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 
(Joterium), in which is secreted a powerful and yenomous fluid, long cele- 
brated in chemical researches, and called formic acid!, which, when their 
enemy is beyond the reach of their mandibles (I speak here particularly of 
the hill-ant, or 2”. rufa), standing erect on their hind legs, they ejaculate 
from their anus with considerable force, so that from the surface of the 
nest ascends a shower of poison, exhaling a strong sulphureous odour, 
sufficient to overpower or repel any insect or small animal. Such is the 
fury of some species, that with the acid, according to Gould?, they some- 
times partly eject, drawing it back however directly, the poison-bag itself. 
If a stick be stuck into one of the nests of the hill-ant, it is so saturated 
with the acid as to retain the scent for many hours. A more formidable 
weapon arms the species of the genus Myrmica Latr.; for, besides the 
poison-bag, they are furnished with a sting; and their aspect is also often 
rendered peculiarly revolting by the extraordinary length of their jaws, and 
by the spines which defend their head and trunk. 
But weapons without valour are of but little use ; and this is one distin- 
guishing feature of our pigmy race. Their courage and pertinacity are un- 
conquerable, and often sublimed into the most inconceivable rage and 
fury, It makes no difference to them whether they attack a mite or an 
elephant ; and man himself instils no terror into their warlike breasts. 
Point your finger towards any individual of J. rufa, instead of running 
away, it instantly faces about ; and, that it may make the most of itself, 
stiffening its legs into a nearly straight line, it gives its body the utmost ele- 
vation it is capable of, and thus 
“Collecting all its might dilated stands” 
prepared to repel your attack. Put your finger a little nearer, it imme- 
diately opens its jaws to bite you, and, rearing upon its hind legs, bends its 
abdomen between them, to ejaculate its venom into the wound.3 
_ This angry people, so well armed and so courageous, we may readily 
imagine, are not always at peace with their neighbours: causes of dissen= 
sion 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 
ody of a fly or a beetle, or a cargo of straws and bits of stick, an acqui- 
sition as important as the treasures of a Lima fleet to our seamen. ‘Their 
1 This acid may be prepared artificially, and with all the properties of that pro- 
duced by ants, by distillation from a mixture of sulphuric acid, black oxide of 
a and starch, 
p. 34, 
5 See Foureroy, Annales du Muséum, No. 5. 843, 
x¥ 3 
