178 Sir John Luhhock [May 9, 



Tlie ant may be seen to tap the aphis gently with its antenna, when 

 the latter squeezes out a drop of sweet syrup, which the ant greedily 

 sucks up. Sometimes the ants carry earth up low plants, and build a 

 sort of shed over the aphides, which they also defend from the attacks of 

 other insects. The Baltic amber contains among the remains of many 

 other insects a species of ant intermediate between our small brown 

 garden ants, and the little yellow meadow ants, and which is possibly 

 the stock from which these and other allied species are descended. 

 One is even tempted to suggest that the brown species which live so 

 much in the open air, and climb up trees and bushes, have retained 

 and even deepened their dark colour; while others, such as Lasius 

 flavus, the yellow meadow ant, which lives almost entirely below 

 ground, has become much paler. But though this Lasius flavus has 

 thus ceased to visit the aphides above ground, it has perhaps acquired 

 its subterranean habit from having discovered certain species of under- 

 ground aphides, which live on the roots of grass, and which the ants 

 collect into their nests, where these aj)hides abound, while they are 

 comparatively rare in the surrounding soil. These subterranean 

 aphides, like those which live above ground, secrete a sweet juice 

 which forms no small part of the sustenance of the ants. There are 

 several species of them in my neighbourhood ; five are very common. 

 The ants take great care of them, and if the nest is disturbed hasten 

 to carry them away to a place of safety. 



Various other species of insects are utilized by ants very much in 

 the same manner as aphides, namely, some species of coccus allied to 

 the cochineal insect, and the " scale " of our greenhouses, and a number 

 of beetles, some of which, like the Beckia, are perfectly blind. 



Perhaps the most remarkable case of all still remains to be men- 

 tioned. Insects of this group are known to be utilized by ants in 

 tropical countries ; but no such relation was known to exist between 

 our English species. I found, however, in nests of L. flavus some 

 black eggs which were watched over by the ants with great care, and 

 which eventually turned out to be those of an aphis. Now these 

 eggs are laid in the autumn ; they do not hatch till the end of 

 February, or even till May, and yet during the whole of that time 

 they are tended by the ants. This is j^erhaps, taking all in all, the 

 most striking case of prudence recorded in the animal kingdom. 



I would by no means intend to imply that the relations between 

 ants and the other insects which live with them are exhausted by the 

 above suggestions. On the contrary, various other reasons may bo 

 imagined which may render the presence of these insects useful, or 

 agreeable, to the ants. For instance, they may emit an odour which 

 is j^leasanfc to the ants. Again, Mr. Francis Galton has, I think, 

 rendered it very probable that most of our domestic animals were kept 

 as pets before they were made of any use. Unlikely as this may 

 appear in some cases, for instance in the pig, we know as a fact that 

 pigs arc often kept by savages as pets. I would not put it forward as 

 a suggestion which can be supported by any solid reasoning, but it 



