120 THE INSECT WORLD. 



bigger than itself, and carry them away into a dark place 



However, the ants do not always act so gently towards them. Whei 

 they fear that they may be carried off by ants of another kind, an( 

 living near their habitation, or when one opens up too suddenly the tur 

 under which they are hidden, they seize them up in haste and carri 

 them off to the bottom of their little cavern. I have seen the anti 

 of two different ant-hills fighting for their plant-lice. When thosi 

 belonging to one ants' nest could enter the nest of the others, the] 

 took them away from their rightful owners, and often these tool 

 possession of them again in their turn ; for the ants know well th( 

 value of these little animals, which seem made on purpose for them 

 — they are the ants' treasures. An ants' nest is more or less rich 

 according as it is more or less stocked with plant-lice. The plant 

 lice are its cattle, its cows, its goats. One would never have though 

 that the ants were a pastoral people ! "* 



Their hiding in the ants' nest is not voluntary ; they are prisoner 

 of war. The ants, after having hollowed out galleries in the midj 

 of roots, make a foray upon the turf, and seize upon plant-lie 

 scattered about here and there, bringing them with them, and collec 

 them together in their nests. The captive insects take their wrons 

 with patience, and behave like philosophers under this new kind ( 

 life. They lavish on their masters, with the best grace in the worl( 

 the nutritious juices with which their bodies superabound. Charh 

 Bonnet has stated some real wonders of the cleverness and industi 

 of other ants which also make a provision of plant-lice. i 



" I discovered one day," says he, "a Euphorbia, which supportei- 

 in the middle of its stem a small sphere, to which it served as tl 

 axis. It was a case which the ants had constructed of earth. Th 

 issued forth from this by a very narrow opening made in its bas 

 descended the stem, and passed into a neighbouring ants' nest, 

 destroyed one part of this pavilion, built almost in the air, so thai 

 might study the interior. It was a little room, the vault-shaped wa ■ 

 of which were smooth and even. The ants had profited by the formi! 

 the plant to sustain their edifice. The stalk passed up the centre 

 the apartment, and for its timber-work it had the leaves. Tl 

 retreat contained a numerous family of plant-lice, to which t 

 brown ants came peacefully, to make their harvest, sheltered fr( 

 the rain, the sun, and from other ants. No insect could disti 

 them ; and the plant-lice were not exposed to the attacks of th 

 numerous enemies. I admired this trait of industry ; and I was i 



Recherches," &c., pp. 192 — 194. 



I 



