PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 331 
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 (2. cunicularia). 
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 rapidity. 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, making a passage through the midst 
of them, carry off in their mouth the larve and pupew. The surface of 
the nest thus becomes the scene of an obstinate conflict, and the assailants 
are often deprived of the prey which they had seized. The miners dart 
upon them, fight them foot to foot, dispute every inch of their territory, 
and defend their progeny with unexampled courage and rage. When the 
rufescents, laden with pillage, retire, they do it in close order—a precau- 
tion highly necessary, since their valiant enemies, pursuing them, impede 
their progress for a considerable distance from their residence. 
During these combats the pillaged ant-hill presents in miniature the 
spectacle. of a besieged city; hundreds of its inhabitants may be seen 
making their escape, and carrying off in different directions, to a place of 
security, some the young brood, and others their females that are newly 
excluded : but when the danger is wholly passed, they bring them back to 
their city, the gates of which they barricade, and remain in great numbers 
near them to guard the entrance. 
Formica sanguinea, as I observed aboye, is another of the slave-making 
ants ; and its proceedings merit separate notice, since they differ consider- 
ably from those of the rufescents. They construct their nests under 
hedges of a southern aspect, and likewise attack the hills both of the 
as beagles with their noses, evidently as if in pursuit of game. Those in the van, 
as Huber also observed, kept perpetually falling back into the main body. When 
they had passed this inclosure, they appeared for some time to be at a loss, malin, 
no progress, but only coursing about: but after a few minutes’ delay, as if they hai 
received some intelligence, they resumed their march and soon arrived at a negro 
nest, which they entered by one or two apertures, We could not observe that any 
negroes 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 carrying its burthen. Most that I ob- 
served seemed to have pupw. 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 renewin: 
my researches after dinner; but a violent tempest of thunder and rain, though 
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 (Polyergus apeniondy on account of the form of their jaws, and the accessory 
parts of their mouth, either to prepare habitations for their family, to procure food, 
or to feed them. — Considérations nouvelles, &c., p. 408. 
