208 



NOTES UPON INSECTS. 



meriting their expedition. At a quarter before five they sallied forth in 

 crowd s, and appeared extremely restless ; some advanced into the 

 meadow, whilst others remained on the ant-hill ; but a few, returning 

 to the rear,, by the effect of that tactic we have elsewhere noticed, 

 arrived at the garrison and gave the signal for departure, by approaching 

 in turn, and striking with their antennae all their compatriots, who 

 immediately put themselves in march to join the army. This warlike 

 phalanx took a direction different from that of the preceding evening, 

 but soon stopped in their course, and separated in search of some ant- 

 hill; but experiencing no success, they again formed and continued their 

 march, until they alighted upon one hidden in the grass, at about fifty 

 paces from their own dwelling. The ash-coloured ants, frightened at 

 the unexpected arrival and number of the amazons, took flight, leaving 

 the latter to make ample booty of larvae and pupae, which they carried 

 off to their own abode. 



" Another army, infinitely more numerous than the first, now issued 

 from the garrison, and took a different direction in their march, which 

 was somewhat tedious ; they passed untouched several ant-hills inhabited 

 by a different species, but finding at length a nest of ash-coloured ants, 

 they attacked it with their usual fury, and returned laden with pupae 

 and larvae. I was a witness every day during the summer to these 

 invasions." 



Another species of slave-making ants (Formica sanguinaria, 

 Latreille), whose proceedings are somewhat different, will be detailed 

 in a subsequent page. 



NOTES UPON INSECTS. 



BY SYLVAN US. 



It is a trite but no less true remark, that the structure of every 

 creature is fitted for the life it is designed to lead : however minute, or 

 however vast the size of the animal, this equally applies in all instances 

 throughout the creation. The more familiar the illustration which we 

 select of this great law, the more forcibly are we impressed with a sense 

 of the mightiness of the Creator. We will choose from out the varied 

 host of insects, two for examination and comparison — which every 

 reader, however young, must have observed, viz. the beetle and the 



