HEMIPTERA. 



127 



long in finding it again, in a more interesting character, in ants of 

 different species. 



" Some red ants had built round the foot of a thistle a tube of 

 earth, two inches and a half long by one and a half broad. The 

 ants' nest was below, and communicated directly with the cylinder. 

 I took the stalk, with what surrounded it, and all that the cylinder 

 contained. That portion of the stem which was inside the earthen 

 tube was covered with plant-lice. I very soon saw the ants coming 

 out at the opening I had made at the base ; they were verv much 

 .astonished to see daylight at that place, and I saw that they lived 

 there with their larvae. They carried these with great haste to the 

 - highest part of the cylinder which had not been altered. In this 

 t jretreat they were within reach of their plant-lice, and here they fed 

 their young. 



" In other places many stalks of the Euphorbia laden with plant- 

 ; lice rose in the very centre of an ant-hill belonging to the brown ants. 

 ^ sThese insects, profiting by the peculiar arrangement of the leaves 

 r. of this plant, had constructed round each branch as many litde 

 5; elongated cases ; and it was here they came to get their food. 

 ^, paving destroyed one of these cells, the ants forthwith carried off 

 ^ into their nests their precious animals ; a few days afterwards it was 

 J, f-epaired under my eyes by these insects, and the herd were taken 

 ■ ' t)ack to their pens. 



" These cases are not always at a few inches from the ground. I 

 one five feet above the soil, and this one deserves also to be 

 j^ ^escribed. It consisted of a blackish, rather short tube, which was 

 '. puilt round a small branch of the poplar at the point where it left the 

 I jiu'nk. The ants reached it by the interior of the tree, which was 

 .| excavated, and without showing themselves, they were able to reach 

 j;; heir plant-lice by an opening which they had made in the base of 

 ,^ jhis branch. This tube was formed of rotten wood, of the vegetable 

 ^, i?arth_ of this very tree, and I saw many a time the ants bringing little 

 Ijj pits in their mouths to repair the breaches I had made in their 

 ,jj H)avilion. These are not very common traits, and are not of the 

 'lumber of those which can be attributed to an habitual routine.''* 

 One day, Pierre Huber discovered in a nest of yellow ants a cell 

 ... containing a mass of eggs having the appearance of ebony. They 

 ^. fere surrounded by a number of ants, which appeared to be guarding 

 ^(. |hem, and endeavouring to carry them off. 

 ^ \ Huber took possession of the cell, its inhabitants, and of the 



* "Traite d'Insectologie," &c., pp. 198—201. 



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