up to the very noses of the lizards, while the male or female which should chance to straggle in the same direction would infallibly be eaten up. The lizards plainly show their fear of the workers by the way in which, when they make up their mind to try a dash at some outlying part of the ant colony, they leap through the lines in the utmost haste as if traversing a ring of fire.
Now these worker ants are destitute of stings, and I can only suppose that their power of combination, stronger jaws and more horny coats, have gained them this immunity. I remarked that the smaller lizards appeared to have some difficulty in dealing with the males and females which they captured, and would beat and pound them against the stones before devouring them, while the larger ones would often make but one mouthful of them, swallowing wings and all!
If it were not for this body-guard of workers it is difficult to see how the males and females in such situations could ever escape. It is also plain that if the worker harvesting ants were as liable to be seized and devoured as their winged companions, the species would soon become extinct, for they expose themselves more than ants ordinarily do, and their long provision-laden trains would be almost at the mercy of any enemy which could attack them without fear of results.[1]
- ↑ Speaking of the enemies of ants, I may mention having seen a young robin in England picking up and swallowing the workers of Formica nigra just as if they were crumbs. I knew that birds would eat the male and female ants, but I had thought the workers were exempt from their attacks, and, indeed, they must be so as a rule, for otherwise they would speedily become extinct.
