488 
ANT. 
that the print of a horse’s foot, in passing through 
them, was covered in a moment by the surrounding 
multitude. 
The inhabitants of the island were at length re- 
lieved from this calamity by another, which, al- 
though very disastrous in its effects, they were more 
used to, and therefore less disturbed about. This 
was a hurricane, which came with its usual violence, 
and not only tore trees and sugar-canes up by the 
roots, but destroyed the nests of these insects; and 
it is probable that the ants perished in the deluge of 
rain which succeeded. 
These ants make their nests at the roots of the 
sugar-canes, which are so much injured by them 
that the proper circulation of the sap is cut off ; 
consequently the plants become sickly, and inca- 
pable of yielding any tolerable quantity of sugar. 
In Hawksworth’s account of Cook’s first voyage, 
there is a description of three different species of 
ants found in New South Wales. As these little 
animals were noticed by an actual observer, and 
afford some curious information, we shall subjoin 
the account in his own words : 
ec Some are as green as a leaf, and live upon trees, 
where they build their nests of various sizes, be- 
tween that of a man’s head and his fist. These 
nests are of a very curious structure : they are 
formed by bending down several of the leaves, each 
of which is as broad as a man’s hand, and glueing 
the points of them together, so as to form a purse. 
The viscous matter used for this purpose is an ani- 
