Again, during the rains, this ant-raised earth is washed into the
rivulets and borne away to fertilize distant valleys, or is
carried to the ocean, where, along the coast line, it "sows the
dust of continents to be."
II. RED ANTS.
BY JULES MICHELET.
Peter Huber, walking one day in a field near Geneva, saw on the
ground a strong detachment of reddish colored ants on the march,
and bethought himself of following them. On the flanks of the
column, as if to dress its ranks, a few sped to and fro in eager
haste. After marching for about a quarter of an hour, they halted
before an ant-hill belonging to some small black ants, and a
desperate struggle took place at its gates.
A small number of blacks offered a brave resistance; but the
great majority of the people thus assailed fled through the gates
remotest from the scene of combat, carrying away their young. It
was just these which were the cause of the strife--what the
blacks most feared being the theft of their offspring. And soon
the assailants, who had succeeded in penetrating into the city,
might be seen emerging from it, loaded with the young black
progeny.
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