Meer Hassan Ali, B.: Observations on the Mussulmauns of India: descriptive of their manners, customs, habits, and religious opinions ; made during a twelve years residence in their immediate Society (Band 2) (London, 1832)

100 RUD ANTS.

making their way to the general storehouse;
but it is done so promptly, that the line is
neither broken nor their progress impeded by
the salutation.

I was surprised one morning in my break-
fast parlour to discover something moving slowly
up the wall; on approaching near to examine
what it was, I discovered a dead wasp, which
the khidmutghar (footman), had destroyed with
his chowrie during breakfast, and which, falling
on the floor, had become the prize of my little
friends, (a vast multitude), who were labouring
with their tiny strength to convey it to their
nest in the ceiling. The weight was either too
great, or they had quarrelled over the burthen,
—I know not which,—but the wasp fell to the
ground when they had made more than half
the journey of the wall; the courageous little
creatures, however, were nothing daunted, they
resumed their labour, and before evening their
prize was safely housed.

These ants are particularly fond of animal
food. I once caught a tarantula; it was even-
ing, and I wished to examine it by daylight. I
placed it for this purpose in a recess of the