"The Empire of the Ants" is a 1905 short story by H. G. Wells about the littleness of humanity and the tenuousness of the dominion Homo sapiens enjoys on Earth.

[1] Accompanying him is a Lancashire engineer named Holroyd, from whose point of view the story is (for the most part) told.

They find a species of large black ant that has evolved advanced intelligence and has used it to make tools and organize aggression.

Gerilleau sends his second in command, Lieutenant da Cunha, aboard the vessel, the ants attack him and he dies painfully, apparently poisoned.

[3] A final section reports that Holroyd has returned to England to warn the authorities about the ants "before it is too late".