HEMIPTERA. • I25 



.^mploys its antennae, which swell somewhat towards their extremities, 



n conveying this droplet to its mouth, and causes it to enter it by 



•Dressing it first on one side, then on the other, using its antennae as 



f they were fingers. The greater number of ants seek them on those 



olants on which they usually fix themselves — the lowest herbs, as 



ivell as the highest trees. There are some, however, which never 



eave their place of abode, and never go out to the chase. These 



ire the little ants, of a pale yellow colour, rather transparent, and 



bovered with hairs, and which are extremely numerous in our meadows 



imd orchards. These subterranean creatures are very noxious to the 



armer. Pierre Huber often wondered how they subsisted, and with 



vhat food they could provision themselves, without quitting their 



' jjloomy habitations. Having one day turned up the earth of which 



, l habitation was composed, in order to discover if any treasure were 



I ^0 be found stowed away there, he found nothing but plant-lice. Of 



* ihese the greater number were fixed to the roots of the trees which 



I ;iung down from the roof of their subterranean nest ; others were 



i A-andering about among the ants. These latter, moreover, set about 



' ?iiilking their nurses, as usual, and with the same success. To verify 



H lis discovery, he dug up a great number of nests of the yellow ant, 



h' ind. invariably found aphides in them. So as to study the relations 



,' i^hich must exist between these insects, he shut up ants with their 



i; Viends, the plant-lice, in a glazed box, placing at the bottom of the 



:. iox, earth, mixed with the roots of some plants, whose branches 



egetated outside the box. He watered this ant-hill from time to 



t ime, and thus both the animals and the plants found in his apparatus 



ufficient nourishment. 



" The ants," he says, " did not endeavour in the least to make 



leir escape. They seemed to want for nothing, and to be quite 



it fontent. They tended their larvae and females with the same 



ei; Section they would have shown in their usual ant-hill ; they took 



lit ireat care of the plant-lice, and never did them any harm. These, 



'H the other hand, did not seem to fear the ants ; they allowed 



(/r nemselves to be moved about from one place to another, and when 



5I1; hey were set down they remained in the place chosen for them by 



tjj heir guardians. When the ants wished to move them to a fresh 



lace, they began by caressing them with their antennas, as if to 



i^ ^quest them to abandon their roots or to withdraw their trunk from. 



j],| .^e cavity in which it was inserted ; then they took them gently 



bove or below the abdomen with their jaws, and carried them with 



^ iie same care they would have bestowed on the larvae of their own 



pecies. I saw the same ant take three plant-lice in succession, each 



