PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 371 



ants make a property of these cows, for the possession of which they 

 contend with great earnestness, and use every means to keep them to 

 themselves. Sometimes they seem to claim a right to the Aphides that 

 inhabit^ the branches of a tree or the stallcs of a plant ; and if stranger 

 ants attempt to share their treasure with them, they endeavor to drive 

 them away, and may be seen running about in a great bustle, and exhibit- 

 ing every symptom of inquietude and anger. Sometimes, to rescue them 

 from their rivals, they take their Aphides in their mouth ; they generally 

 keep guard round them, and when the branch is conveniently situated, 

 they have recourse to an expedient still more effectual to keep off inter- 

 lopers, — they inclose it in a tube of earth or other materials, and thus 

 confine them in a kind of paddock near their nest, and often communicat- 

 ing with it. 



The greatest cow-keeper of all the ants is one to be met with in most 

 of our pastures, residing in hemispherical formicaries, which are sometimes 

 of considerable diameter. I mean the yellow ant of Gould (F.jiava). 

 This species, which is not fond of roaming from home, and likes to have 

 all its conveniences within reach, usually collects in its nest a large herd 

 of a kind of Aphis, that derives its nutriment from the roots of grass and 

 other plants (Aphis radicum) ; these it transports from the neighboring 

 roots, probably by subterranean galleries, excavated for the purpose, lead- 

 ing from the nest in all directions^ ; and thus, without going out it has 

 always at hand a copious supply of food. These creatures share its 

 care and solicitude equally with its own offspring. To the eggs it pays 

 particular attention, moistening them with its tongue, carrying them in its 

 mouth with the utmost tenderness, and giving them the advantage of the 

 sun. This last fact I state from my own observation ; for once upon 

 opening one of these ant-hills early in the spring, on a sunny day, I 

 observed a parcel of these eggs, which I knew by their black color, very 

 near the surface of the nest. My attack put the ants into a great ferment, 

 and they immediately began to carry these interesting objects down into 

 the interior of the nest. It is of great consequence to them to forward 

 the hatching of these eggs as much as possible, in order to insure an early 

 source of food for their colony ; and they had doubtless in this instance 

 brought them up to the warmest part of their dwelling with this view. 

 M. Huber, in a nest of the same ant, at the foot of an oak, once found 

 the eggs of Aphis Qiiercus. 



Our yellow ants are equally careful of their Aphides after they are 

 hatched ; when their nest is disturbed conveying them into the interior ; 

 fighting fiercely for them if the inhabitants of neighboring formicaries, as 

 is sometimes the case, attempt to make them their prey ; and carrying 

 them about in their mouths to change their pasture, or for some other 

 purpose. When you consider that from them they receive almost the 

 whole nutriment both of themselves and larvje, you will not wonder at 

 their anxiety about them, since the wealth and prosperity of the commu- 

 nity is in proportion to the number of their cattle. Several other species 

 keep Aphides in their nests, but none in such numbers as those of which 

 I am speaking.^ 



' Huber, 195. I have more than once found these Aphides in the nests of this species 

 of ant. 

 * See Huber, chap. vi. I have found Aphides in the nest of Myrmica rubra. Boisier de 



