182 NOTES ON THR ANT OF SCUIPTURE. 



of proyisions for winter use? And such is the prevailing opinion. In the 

 paraphrase of this very passage, for example, which is used by the church 

 of Scotland, we read as follows — 



"Yet see with what incessant cares, 

 She for the winter's storm prepares; 

 In summer she provides her meat, 

 And winter finds her store complete." 



The opinion has been long prevalent, and is still held by many. We have 

 said that the opinion that the '^^provident Emmet" has a magazine of winter 

 provisions — a miniature granarj--, has been long prevalent, and it may not be 

 altogether uninteresting to shew briefly that this is the case. The jocose 

 Horace in the palmy days of Imperial Rome, speaking of the Ant in one 

 of his satires, says, when dressed in a garb of English, — 



"For thus the little ant (to human lore 

 No mean example) forms her frugal store, 

 Gathered with mighty toil on every side, 

 Nor ignorant, nor careless to provide 

 For future want; yet when the stars appear 

 That darkly sadden the declining year, 

 No more she comes abroad, but wisely lives 

 On the fair stores industrious summer gives." 



In these lines he no doubt gives expression to the 'opinion prevalent 

 among his countrymen, at that time in regard to the social economy of the 

 Formic tribes that are widely spread throughout the length and breadth of 

 sunny Italy. And so sang also Virgil as well as Ovid. The prose writers 

 too have similar passages scattered through their works. Milton also, if we 

 remambar aright, U33S similar language in his "Paradise Lost," and it has 

 been steadily adhered to for many generations. And whence arose this 

 long-established opinion? From the circumstance that Ants have been fre- 

 quently observed carrying what seemed grains of corn to their nests,* and 

 bringing them up again when damp to dry in the sun. These _^r«ms however, 

 on a more close inspection, have proved to be their own eggs. Such then is 

 most probably the origin of the opinion above mentioned j but nearly con- 

 nected with this, is another one which will be seen in the following passage 

 from Pliny, as rendered into English by that worthy "Docter of Physickc, 

 Philemon Holland:" — "The Ants are not without care and forecast; look what 

 seeds or grains they lay up for provision; sure they will be to gnaw it first, 

 for fear they should sprout, and take root again, and so grow out of the 

 earth." This passage, as will be seen, asserts not only that the Ant lays 

 up winter provisions for home consumption, but also that it bites out the 

 germ of the corn to prevent it from sprouting. Now Ants, though certainly 

 very clever, and possessed of a remarkable amount of instinct, never did 



* Let it be understood that we do not intend considering whether or not Ants eat com, carry 

 com, or employ corn in any way; this would occupy more space than we have — we merely ex- 

 amine — whether any ant is a winter-store gatherer. 



