'^' ' -^t* "*^" ■ ■ im^^^ 



124 T//E INSECT WORLD. 



this liquid at will. This is their secret. A branch of a thistle w, 

 covered with brown ants and plant-lice. I observed the latter f 

 some time, so as to discover, if possible, the moment when thi 

 caused this secretion to issue from their bodies ; but I remarked th 

 it very rarely came out of its own accord, and that the plant-lie 

 which were at some distance from the ants, squirted it out with 

 movement resembUng a kick. 



" How did it happen, then, that the ants wandering about on t' 

 thistle were nearly all remarkable for the size of their abdomens, ai 

 were evidently full of some liquid ? This I discovered by narro\^ 

 watching one ant, whose proceedings I am going to describe minute 

 I saw it at first passing, without stopping, over some plant-lice, whi 

 did not seem in the least disturbed by its walking over them ; but 

 soon stopped close to one of the smallest, which it seemed to cc 

 with its antennae, touching the extremity of its abdomen very rapid 

 first with one of its antennae and then with the other. I saw w 

 surprise the liquid come out of the body of the plant-louse, and " 

 ant forthwith seize upon the droplet and convey it to its mouth, 

 then brought its antennae to bear upon another plant-louse, mn 

 larger than the first ; this one, caressed in the same manner, yiel( 

 the nourishing fluid from its body in a much larger dose. The 

 advanced and took possession of it. It then passed to a third, wh 

 it cajoled as it had the preceding ones, giving it many little stro 

 with its antennae near the hinder extremity of its body ; the liq 



came out immediately, and the ant picked it up .; 



small number of these repasts are sufficient to satisfy the a( 

 appetite. (See Fig. 91.) \ 



" It does not appear that it is out of importunity that these insi! 

 obtain their nourishment from the plant-lice. { 



"'The neighbourhood of ants is agreeable to plant-lice, since ^h^ 

 which could get out of the way of their visits, viz., the winged pi 1 

 lice, prefer to remain amongst them, and to lavish upon them i 

 superabundance of their nourishment."* 



What we have just related applies not only to the broAMi (For. 

 brwmea), but also to the tawny ant {Formica flava), to the ashy b 

 {Formica nigra), to the fuliginous {Formica fidigi?iosa), and to a ^ ■ 

 many more. 



The Red Ant {Formica rufa) is singularly adroit in seizing 

 droplet left it by the plant-louse. According to Pierre Hube 



* " Recherches sur les Moeurs des Fourmis Indigenes," pp. 181 — 186. 

 Paris, 1 810. 



