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PEEFECT SOCIETIES OP INSECTS. 



them very attentively, I at length saw one dragging another, 

 which it absolutely lifted up by its antennae, and carrying it in 

 the air. I followed it with my eye, till it concealed itself and 

 its antagonist in the nest. I soon noticed another that had 

 recourse to the same manoeuvres ; but in this instance the ant 

 that was attacked resisted manfully, a third sometimes ap- 

 pearing inclined to interfere : the result was, that this also 

 was dragged in. A third was haled in by its legs, and a 

 fourth by its mandibles. What was the precise object of these 

 proceedings, whether sport or violence, I could not ascertain. 

 I walked the same way on the following morning, but at an 

 earlier hour, when only a few comers and goers were to be 

 seen near the nest." And soon leaving the place, I had no 

 further opportunity to attend to them. 



And now having conducted you through every apartment 

 of the formicary, and shown you its inhabitants in every light, 

 I shall leave you to meditate on the extraordinary instincts 

 with which their Creator has gifted them, reserving what I 

 have to say on the other social insects for a future occasion. 



I am, &c. 



