172 THE UNIVERSE. 



more or less rich according to the number of Aphides it 

 possesses. 



Huber discovered that the ants are so greedy after this 

 sweet liquor that, to procure it more conveniently, they 

 make covered ways which lead from their nests to the 

 plants inhabited by these miniature cows. Sometimes they 

 carry their foresight even to a more incredible extent. In 

 order to reap a richer harvest from the Aphides, they leave 

 them on the plants which they habitually feed upon, and 

 with finely tempered earth build there little stables in 

 which they confine them. The naturalist we have just 

 quoted discovered several of these surprising constructions ; 

 the fact is therefore beyond doubt. 



Some ants, in place of deriving from other insects this 

 saccharine juice, of which ours seem so fond, find an abun- 

 dant supply of it in their own bodies. This is seen in the 

 case of the honey-ant. These strange insects, first described 

 by M. Wesmael, inhabit Mexico, living in little subterranean 

 galleries. At a particular time the abdomen of a certain 

 number becomes globular, transparent, and full of a saccha- 

 rine matter, to such an extent that it equals in size a small 

 cherry. This honey-like secretion being of an exquisite 

 taste, in certain regions where these ants abound the women 

 and children go and dig up their subterranean abodes to 

 collect the insects, which, after being deprived of head and 

 thorax, are served up at dessert. 



Under certain circumstances the ants fight battles which 

 seem to have no other ground than antipathy between 

 species or tribes. 



Ant-battles have had their historian, we might almost say 



