Ants. 179 



aphis-lion, which is very terrible. Its mother, the 

 golden-eyed lace-wing fly, is a dear, sweet thing, that you 

 would think fit only to go on an Easter card, so pale and 

 aesthetic are her light-green wings. But her children are 

 such regular little " divvels ' that she dare not lay her 

 eggs in one mass, for the first one out would eat up all 

 the rest. So she spins a lot of stalks of stiff silk and 

 sticks one egg on the end of each, thereby giving each 

 young one a chance for its life. Considering that the 

 ants chase away these savage insects, defend their flocks 

 of aphides, stable them, and keep their eggs over from 

 October till March, does not this constitute stockraising 

 and justify my statement that they engage in the dairy 

 business? Are not the plant-lice truly 'ants' cattle"? 



There is a lot that is human about these little ants. 

 They like to play and cut up ; they make believe to fight, 

 and when they wrestle in fun they roll all around like 

 schoolboys. They wash and brush each other and stretch 

 out under the process as much as to say, " My! that feels 

 good." When they sleep they often lie on their sides, 

 and sometimes squat down on their abdomen and the last 

 pair of legs, for all the world like a man taking a nap. 

 When they wake up they gape and stretch themselves, 

 and all but say, " Ho, hum ! ' They always wash them- 

 selves and comb their hair as soon as they get up, and 

 that without having to be told, like some little persons I 

 know, but will not name here. 



They are like us in keeping pets about the house. 

 Andre counted 584 species of insects, nearly all of them 

 beetles, that are habitually to be found in ants' nests. 

 They must be there with their consent, for an interloper 

 is instantly killed. Some of them are milch-cattle, like 

 the aphides, such as caterpillars that give syrup and the 

 little blind beetle Clawgcr, which secretes honey from a 



