42 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the larvae live. Other species of the genus are in the same way para- 

 sitic on bees. On the 14th of October last I observed that one of 

 my ants had a mite attached to the underside of its head. The mite, 

 which is still in the same position, is almost as large as the head. 

 The ant cannot remove it herself. She has never come out of the 

 nest, so that I could not do it for her, and none of her own com- 

 panions from that day to this have thought of performing this kind 

 office. 



In character the different species of ants differ very much from 

 one another. F. fusca, the one which is preeminently the enslaved 

 ant, is, as might be expected, extremely timid ; while the nearly 

 allied F. cinerea has, on the conti'ary, a considerable amount of 

 individual audacity. F. rufa, the horse ant, according to M. Forel, 

 is especially characterized by the want of individual initiative, and 

 always moves in troops; he also regards the genus -Fonnzca as ^the 

 most brilliant, though some others excel it in other respects, as, for 

 instance, in the sharpness of their senses. F. jjratensis worries its slain 

 enemies ; F. sanguinea never does. The slave-making ant (P. intfescens) 

 is, perhaps, the bravest of all. If a single individual finds herself 

 surrounded by enemies, she never attempts to fly, as any other ant 

 would, but transfixes her opponents one after another, springing 

 right and left with great agility, till at length she succumbs, over- 

 powered by numbers. 31. scabrinodis is cowardly and thievish ; 

 during wars among the larger species they haunt the battle-fields 

 and devour the dead. Tetramorium is said to be very greedy ; 

 Myrmecina very phlegmatic. 



In industry ants are not surpassed even by bees and wasps. They 

 work all day, and in warm Aveather, if need be, even at night too. 

 I once watched an ant from six in the morning, and she worked 

 without intermission till a quarter to ten at night. I had put her to 

 a saucer containing larvae, and in this time she carried off no less than 

 a hundred and eighty-seven to the nest. I once had another ant, 

 Avhich I employed in my experiments, under observation several 

 days. When I came up to London in the morning, and went to 

 bed at night, I used to put her in a small bottle, but the moment she 

 was let out she began to work again. On one occasion I was away 

 from home for a week. On my return I let her out of the bottle, 

 placing her on a little heap of larvae about three feet from the nest. 

 Under these circumstances I certainly did not expect her to return. 

 However, though she had tlius been six days in confinement, the 

 brave little creature immediately picked up a larva, carried it off 

 to the nest, and after half an hour's rest returned for another. 



We have had hitherto very little information as to the length of 

 life in ants. So far, indeed, as the preparatory stages are concerned, 

 there is little difficulty in approximately ascertaining the facts 

 namely, that while they take only a few weeks in summer, in some 



