Chapter Iv.--the Ants: Civil War--Extermination of the Community.

It is the punishment of the tyrant that he cannot readily set free his captive, 271 The caged nightingale, and the clod of earth, 272 This clod proves to contain a republic of carpenter-ants, 272 An effort is made to found a new community; difficulties in the way, 273 An encounter between the carpenter-ants and some mason-ants, 274 In which the victory is on the side of the Little, 275 Who carry off the young of the conquered, 276 A digression comments on the helplessness of the nymph, or larva, 277 And points out its exceeding suffering in the hands of a victorious enemy, 278 The writer is shocked by the relentless cruelty of the conquerors, 279 Who have left but one poor fugitive to mourn the death of his companions, 280