206 



AMAZON ANT. 



return to the outer wall of their garrison ; their number increases each 

 moment, they describe greater circles, a signal is communicated, they 

 pass from one to the other, striking as they proceed with their antennae 

 and forehead the breast of their companions ; these, in their turn, 

 approach those advancing, and communicate the same signal, it is that 

 of departure ; the result satisfactorily proves it. We see those receiv- 

 ing the intimation put themselves at the moment in march and join 

 the rest of the troop. The column becomes organised, advances in a 

 straight line, passes over the turf, and removes to a considerable dis- 

 tance. Not a single amazon is any longer to be seen near the garrison. 

 The advanced guard sometimes halts until the rear guard comes up, 

 and then diverges to the right and left without advancing ; the army 

 forms anew, and again moves forward with rapidity. There is no com- 

 mander-in-chief, every ant is in turn first, each seeking to be foremost ; 

 some, however, move in a different direction, pass from the front to the 

 rear, then retrace their steps and follow the general movement. There 

 are always a small number constantly returning to the. rear, and it is 

 probable in this way the movement of the whole army is governed. 



" At a little more than thirty feet from their own residence they 

 stop and explore the ground with their antenna?, much in the 

 same way as dogs when searching for game. They soon find a 

 subterranean negro ant-hill, to the bottom of which its inhabit- 

 ants have retired. The amazon ants, unopposed, penetrate an open 

 gallery; the whole army enter, seize upon the pupae, and return through 

 the several apertures, immediately taking the road to their garrison. 

 It is now no longer an army disposed in column, it is an undisciplined 

 horde. The amazons run after each other with rapidity, and the last 

 comers from the stormed city are followed by some few of its inhabit- 

 ants, who endeavour to wrest from them their prize ; an effort in 

 which it but rarely happens they are successful. 



f c I return to the garrison to be once more a witness of the reception 

 given to these plunderers by the ash-coloured ants, with whom they 

 dwell. I observe a considerable number of pupae heaped up before the 

 door ; each amazon, on its arrival, deposits its burthen, and then re- 

 turns to the invaded ant-hill ; — their auxiliaries suspend their labours 

 in masonry, and come forward to the pupae, which they carry one by 

 one into the interior. The negroes are also frequently seen to unload 

 the amazons, after having amicably touched them with their antennae, 

 when the latter yield to them, without opposition, the pupae they have 

 purloined. 



