46 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 



nests in which provisions of any kind were stored up. 

 It was therefore surmised that the ancients, observing 

 them carry about ihe'ir puj)£ef which in shape, size, and 

 colour, not a little resemble a grain of corn, and the ends 

 of which they sometimes pull open to let out the inclosed 

 insect, mistook the one for the other, and this action for 

 depriving the grain of the corculum. Mr. Gould, our 

 countryman, was one of the first historians of the ant, 

 who discovered that they did not store up corn; and 

 since his time naturalists have generally subscribed to 

 that opinion. 



Till the manners of exotic ants are more accurately 

 explored, it would, however, be rash to affirm that no 

 ants have magazines of provisions ; for although, during 

 the cold of our winters in this country, they remain in a 

 state of torpidity, and have no need of food, yet in warmer 

 regions, during the rainy seasons, when they are pro- 

 bably confined to their nests, a store of provisions may 

 be necessary for them. Even in northern climates, 

 against wet seasons, they may provide in this way for 

 their sustenance and that of the young brood, which, as 

 Mr. Smeathman observes, are very voracious, and can- 

 not bear to be long deprived of their food ; else why do 

 ants carry worms, living insects, and many other such 

 things into their nests ? Solomon's lesson to the slug- 

 gard has been generally adduced as a strong confirmation 

 of the ancient opinion : it can, however, only relate to 

 the species of a warm climate, the habits of which, as I 

 have just observed, are probably different from those of 

 a cold one ; — so that his words, as commonly interpreted, 

 may be perfectly correct and consistent with nature, and 

 yet be not at all applicable to the species that are indi- 



