340 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
with the cold, or are devoured by the birds, winch are par- 
ticularly fond of this pretty prey. 
In the mean time, the working ants, having probably de- 
posed their queens, and being deserted by the males, that 
served but to clog the community, prepare for the severity of 
the winter, and bury their retreats as deep in the earth as they 
conveniently can. It is now found, that the grains of corn, 
and other substances with which they furnish their hill, are 
only meant as fences to keep off the rigours of the weather, 
not as provisions to support them during its continuance. It 
is found generally to obtain, every insect that lives a year 
after it is come to its full growth, is obliged to stop four or 
five months without taking any nourishment, and will seem to 
be dead all that time. It will be to no purpose, therefore, for 
ants to lay up corn for the winter, since they lie that time with- 
out motion, heaped upon each other, and are so far from eat- 
ing, that they are utterly unable to stir. Thus, what authors 
have dignified by the name of a magazine, appears to be no 
> more titan a cavity, which serves for a common retreat when 
the weather forces them to return to their lethargic state. 
What has been said with exaggeration of the European 
ant, is, however true, if asserted of those of the tropical cli- 
mates. They build an ant-hill with great contrivance and 
regularity, they lay up provisions, and, as they probably live 
the whole year, they submit themselves to regulations entire- 
ly unknown among the ants of Europe. 
Those of Africa are of three kinds, the white , the green , 
and the black; the latter are above an inch long, and in 
every respect a most formidable insect. Their sting produces 
extreme pain, and their depredations are sometimes extreme- 
ly destructive. They build an ant-hill of a very great size, 
from six to twelve feet high ; it is made of viscous clay, 
and tapers into a pyramid form. This habitation is con- 
structed with great artifice ; and the cells are so numerous 
and even, that a lioney-contb scarcely exceeds them in num- 
ber and regularity. 
The inhabitants of this edifice seem to be under a very 
strict regulation. At the slightest warning they will sally 
out upon whatever disturbs them ; and if they have time to 
arrest their enemy, he is sure to find no mercy Sheep, hens, 
and even rats, are often destroyed by these merciless insects, 
and their flesh devoured to the bone. No anatomist in the 
world can strip a skeleton so clean as they ; and no animal, 
how strong soever, when they have once seized upon it, has 
power to resist them. 
It often happens that these insects quit their retreat in a 
body, and go in quest of adventures. 
