CH. VII.] ANTS. 137 



just described. When no ants happen to be at hand 

 to receive this treasure, the insects eject it to a dis- 

 tance by a jerking- motion, which at regular intervals 

 they give their bodies. When the ants, however, 

 are in attendance, they carefully watch the emission 

 of this precious fluid, and immediately suck it down. 

 The ants not only consume this fluid when volun- 

 tarily ejected by the aphides, but what is still more 

 surprising, they know how to make them yield it 

 at pleasure ; or, in other terms, to milk them. On 

 this occasion the antennae of the ants discharge the 

 same functions as the fingers of a milk-maid : with 

 these organs, moved very rapidly, they pat the ab- 

 domen of an aphis first on one side and then on the 

 other : a little drop of the much coveted juice imme- 

 diately issues forth, which the ant eagerly conveys 

 to its mouth. The milk of one aphis having been 

 thus exhausted, the ant proceeds to treat others in 

 the same maimer, until at length it is satiated, when 

 it returns to its nest. 



A still more singular fact, connected with this 

 branch of the natural economy of these insects, 

 remains to be stated. These cows are not always 

 considered the common property of a whole tribe ; 

 on the contrary, some of them are appropriated to 

 the exclusive use of the inhabitants of a particular 

 hill or nest ; and to keep these cows to themselves, 

 they exert all their skill and industry. Sometimes 

 the aphides inhabiting the branches of a particular 

 tree, or the stalks of a particular plant, are thus ap- 

 propriated; and if any vagrant foreigners attempt 

 to share this treasure with its true owners, the lat- 

 ter, exhibiting every symptom of uneasiness and 

 anger, employ all their efforts to drive them away. 



Some species of ants go in search of these aphides 

 on the vegetables where they feed ; but there are 

 others, as the yellow ant, which collect a large herd 

 of a kind of aphis, which derives its nutriment 

 from the roots of grass and other plants. These 



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