178 



HAEDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Aug. 1, 186S. 



roots helping to bind the particles together, and 

 preventing the galleries from falling in. At any rate, 

 so far as I know, the nests are found oftener 

 amongst the roots of grass than anywhere else. 



All being now ready, we must introduce the ants, 

 and this is by no means the easiest part of the 

 transaction. The best plan I think would be to 

 carry the case and set it down by a nest, taking care 

 that it is properly levelled and the trough filled with 

 water. Then stir up the nest well with a stick, and 

 put down pieces of paper amongst the ruins, these 

 will speedily be covered with insects, and may either 

 be shaken over the case, or popped in just as they 

 are, and removed afterwards when the ants have 



believed they might as justly be called TVardian 

 cases as those containing ferns, but I have since 

 found that I was not the originator of the idea, and 

 that the naturalist, Huber, contrived some means of 

 isolating these insects by means of water ; but as 

 to the details of his method I know nothing. 



I shall, however, be amply repaid, if the direc- 

 tions I have given should lead any reader of 

 Science-Gossip to construct such an apparatus, and 

 I am quite sure that he would be more than repaid 

 for his trouble and expense, by the instruction and 

 information he would gain, not to speak of the 

 amusement it would afford him. 



And now, let me briefly state what I noticed 



Fig. 195. The Formicary. 



left them. Care should be taken to secure some of 

 the females, which are nearly as large as wasps, and 

 all the eggs and cocoons that are visible. This 

 being accomplished, and as many as possible secured, 

 it is the better plan to leave it for a time in statu quo, 

 for as soon as the ants discover that something has 

 happened they appear to become possessed of a 

 centrifugal tendency and are consequently all to be 

 found upon the platform, running hither and 

 thither, as though wishing to find some -means of 

 escape. I am afraid it would be difficult to carry 

 it so steadily as not to cause the water to rush over 

 the platform, sweeping away those who are con- 

 gregated upon it ; and therefore I say it is advis- 

 able to wait, for very soon, when they find alL retreat 

 is cut off, and no help comes, they will retire into 

 the case and commence to found a new colony : they 

 may then be covered over with a piece of glass or 

 muslin, and conveyed any distance with safety. The 

 last suggestion I will make is, that it is a good plan 

 to make a few depressions in the soil close to the 

 glass, as the ants will then utilize them as the com- 

 mencement of their shafts, and their operations can 

 thus be watched from the outside much better than 

 if they were sunk at some distance from it. 



When the idea first occurred to me last year, and 

 I saw a feasible way of making these cases, I 



during the short time I had them under observation 

 last autumn. Of course I did not expect to be the 

 witness of any of those wonderful performances that 

 may be seen in the ant-hills of a hotter clime,— they 

 have the great advantage of being " a long way 

 off : " I did, however, expect to find a little more 

 method, aud a little more system in their operations. 

 I will admit that I may have failed rightly to in- 

 terpret their actions, but I think any one closely 

 watching our English ants will agree in the main 

 with me, that great as the amount of work is which 

 they perform, it is nevertheless not done in the 

 most workmanlike manner. They appear to be 

 passionately fond of work, and to make the most of 

 what they can get. Mine seemed to me to work 

 incessantly, night and day, light or dark,— at anyrate, 

 more than once I have turned up the gas suddenly 

 about 2 a.m., and found them at it the same as ever. 

 In excavating their galleries I have frequently 

 noticed an ant come out with a piece of dirt in its 

 forceps, and run about apparently in a state of dis- 

 traction, as if it did not know what to do with it, or 

 else was parading itself as a pattern of industry for 

 otherants; and, indeed, the bigger the burden the more 

 reluctant it seemed to part with it, — perhaps it might 

 look upon it in the light of a nugget, — and when at 

 last it had put it down, it appeared to caress it with 



