MARIA SIBILLA MERIAN. 
41 
ing food than either oats or barley. From these 
the ants are produced, wliich, after changing their 
skin, acquire nings and lay eggs, fi-om which spring 
the worms, for Avhose support the ants labour with 
such unceasing diligence ; in these warm coimtries, 
however, they have no occasion to make provision 
against the cold, since there is no winter. They 
excavate passages in the earth to the depth of eight 
feet, so neatly formed that they might he supposed 
to be the work of human art. When they wish to 
cross from one place to another between which 
there is no passage, they form a bridge in the fol- 
loiving manner, — ^the first clings to a piece of wood, 
which he seizes firmly between his teeth, a second 
follows the first and adheres to him, and in hke 
maimer a third and fourth, each supported by his 
predecessor ; in this state they hang exposed to the 
wind, till a blast brings the free end in contact with 
the point which they desire to reach, and a bridge 
is thus formed, which serves for the passage of 
thousands. The ants carry on a perpetual W’ar 
with spiders and all other inseets that inhabit this 
country. When they issue from their excavations, 
which they do twice in the year, their numbers ai-e 
so great that they fill the houses, and run from one 
apartment to another, killing all the smaller animals 
and sucking their juices. They devour one of the 
large spiders, formerly mentioned, in a moment, 
attacking it in such crowds that it is whoUy unable 
to escape. Even man himself is obliged to take 
