176 SUPPLEMENT TO 



ants, for Dr. King informs me that tlie Hindoos in 

 Rajputana, a province in which the old traditions and 

 superstitions retain especial hold, have a custom of 

 scattering dry rice and sugar for the ants, and thus 

 apparently recognise both their love of sweet things 

 and their hahit of collecting seeds. It may be that 

 this custom is now little more than a meaningless 

 rite ; but in the past it probably had its origin, either 

 in a wish to propitiate the good will and avert the 

 destructive attacks of creatures which are the scourge 

 and dread of entire districts, or in a sentiment of 

 combined fear and admiration — fear of the power, 

 and admiration of the energy, forethought, perseve- 

 rance, and sense of duty to the community displayed 

 by these marvellous insects. 



That the latter feeling may have had some share in 

 prompting this act is sugo;ested by another custom 

 which is stated* to prevail in Arabia, in accordance 

 with which an ant is placed in the hand of a newly- 

 born child, in order that its virtues may pass into 

 and possess the infant. 



Among the many curious and obscure features in 

 the economy of ants, one of the most interesting is 

 the occasional presence in their nests of different 

 creatures which live among and often in harmony 

 with them, the nature of the relations between host 

 and guest being for tlie most part quite unknown. 



When examining the contents of some granaries 

 from an extensive nest of Atta stnidor at Mentone 

 last spring (1874), I found large numbers of a 



* Freytag, paragraph under the Arahic word for Ant, in his Lexicon Arahico- 

 Latinum, vol. iv. p. 339, where he quotes I'rom a local dictionary. 



