Chapter I: Front Matter

_Pubd. by Longman & Co. Pater Noster Row, May 2nd. 1820._

THE

NATURAL HISTORY

OF

ANTS;

BY

M. P. HUBER,

MEMBER OF THE PHYSICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF
GENEVA, AND CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE NATURAL
HISTORY SOCIETIES OF TARNE AND GARONNE, &c.

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH,

_WITH ADDITIONAL NOTES_,

+By+ J. R. JOHNSON, M.D., F.R.S., &c.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN,
PATERNOSTER-ROW.

1820.

Printed by A. and R. Spottiswoode,
Printers-Street, London.

TO

HIS FATHER,

JAMES JOHNSON, +Esq.+ F.S.A.

_THIS VOLUME_

OF INTERESTING FACTS AND OBSERVATIONS,

IS,

IN TOKEN OF FILIAL RESPECT,

INSCRIBED,

BY

THE TRANSLATOR.

ADVERTISEMENT.

Since the following pages were put to the press, the Translator has been favoured with a letter from the Author, of which the following is an extract:--

“Since the publication of my ‘Researches into the Natural History of Indigenous Ants,’ I have frequently re-witnessed what I there describe; so that I can truly affirm, I have neither been led aside by a fertile imagination, nor by a love of the marvellous.

“Some of these facts appear to many of so romantic a nature, that I am happy in not being the only person who has noticed them; not only are there several enlightened observers in this country (Switzerland), but a number of other Naturalists, who, since the publication of my work, have also observed the same occurrences. What has afforded me peculiar satisfaction, is, that of having learned, _vivâ voce_, from M. De Latreille, one of the most distinguished Naturalists of Paris, Member of the Institute or Academy of Sciences, that he had witnessed, on an extensive scale, and had shown to several of his colleagues, the wars and pillages of my Amazon Ants.

“You will find another proof in a work of this great Naturalist, entitled, ‘_Mémoires sur divers sujets de l’Histoire Naturelle des Insectes, &c._’ and particularly in that memoir, entitled, ‘_Considerations nouvelles et generales sur les Insectes vivans en Societé. Discours lu a la Séance publique de l’Academie des Sciences, le 17 Mars, 1817._’

“The Author of these Memoirs, after having mentioned in a summary way, the facts I published upon the manners, &c. of the Rufescent Amazon Ant, says, ‘I observed, in 1802, an army of these Ants in one of their military excursions. They were traversing one of our great roads, covering the whole of its breadth, and advancing in a column of about two feet in width. I attributed this movement to a forced emigration. I suspected, however, from the form of this species, before M. Huber had published any account of it, that it had particular habits. I found this Ant in the woods, in the neighbourhood of Paris. _The whole of the facts related by this Naturalist_ (Huber) _have been fully confirmed._’

“M. De Latreille told me, that he had shown this singular phenomenon to a skilful English Naturalist, whose name I think is Leach.

“These, Sir, are the proofs by which I hope to obtain the confidence of a great number of those readers, who are unable to ascertain the truth of my assertions.”