68 DOMESTIC ANIMALS OF ANTS. 



more than a hundred years ago by the Abbe Boisier 

 de Sauvages.' 



Nor are the aphides the only insects which serve as 

 cows to the ants. Various species of Coccidse, 

 Cercoj)is, Centrotus, Membracis, &c., are utilised in the 

 same manner. H. Edwards ^ and M'Cook ^ have observed 

 ants licking the larva of a butterfly, Lyccena jjseudar- 

 giolus. 



The different species of ants utilise different species 

 of aj)his. The common brown garden ant {Lasius 

 niger) devotes itself principally to aphides which 

 frequent twigs and leaves ; Lasius brunneus, to the 

 aphides which live on the bark of trees ; while the 

 little yellow ant (Lasius Jiavus) keeps flocks and herds 

 of the root-feeding aphides. 



In fact, to this difference of habit the difference of 

 colour is perhaps due. 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. This is possibly 

 the stock from which these and other allied species are 

 descended. One is 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 fiavus, 



' Observations svr Vorigine du viicJ, par I'Abbe Boisier de 

 Sauvages, Jour, de Physiqne, vol. i. p. 187. 

 ■ Canadian Entomologixt, January 1878. 

 » The Mound-making Ants of the AUcghenies, p. 289. 



