PREFACE. vii 



I had intended to make my observations principall}' 

 on bees ; but I soon found that ants were more con- 

 venient for most experimental purposes, and I think 

 they have also more power and flexibility of mind. 

 They are certainly far calmer, and less excitable. 



I do not attempt to give anything like a full life- 

 history of ants, but I have reproduced the substance of 

 two Royal Institution lectm^es, which may serve as an 

 introduction to the subject. Many of the facts there 

 recorded will doubtless be familiar to most of my 

 readers, but without the knowledge of them the ex- 

 periments described in the subsequent chapters would 

 scarcely be intelligible. 



I have given a few plates illustrating some of the 

 species to which reference has been most frequently 

 made ; selecting Lithography (as I was anxious that the 

 figures should be coloured), and having all the species 

 of ants drawn to one scale, although I was thus obliged 

 in some measure to sacrifice the sharpness of outline, 

 and the more minute details. I am indebted to Mr, 



