PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 67 



iiions any good thing- tliey may meet with. Those that 

 go abroad feed those wJiich remain in the nest ; and if 

 they discover any stock of favourite food, they inform 

 the whole conimiinity, as we have seen above, and 

 teach them the way to it. M. Huber, for a particular 

 reason, having- produced heat, by means of a flambeau, 

 in a certain part of an artificial formicary, the ants 

 that happened to be in that quarter, after enjoying it 

 for a time, hastened to convey the welcome intelli- 

 gence to their compatriots, whom they even carried 

 suspended upon their jaws (their usual mode of trans- 

 porting- each other) to the spot, till hundreds might be 

 seen thus laden with their friends. 



If ants feel tlie force of love, they are equally suscep- 

 tible of the emotions of anger ; and when they are me- 

 naced or attacked, no insects show a greater degree of 

 it. Providence, moreover, has furnished them with 

 Aveapons and faculties which render it extremely for- 

 midable to their insect enemies, and sometimes, as I 

 have related on a former occasion, a great annoyance 

 to man himself*. Two strong- mandibles arm their 

 mouth, with which they sometimes fix themselves so 

 obstinately to the object of their attack, that they will 

 sooner be torn limb from limb than let go their hold ; 

 — ^and after their battles, the head of a conquered enemy 

 may often be seen suspended to the antennae or legs of 

 the victor, — a trophy of his valour, which, however 

 troublesome, he will be compelled to carry about with 

 him to the day of his death. Their abdomen is also 

 furnished with a poison-bag (loterh/m), in which is se- 

 creted a powerful and venomous fluid, long celebrated 



• "" Vol. I. 2d Ed. p. 123. 



F 2 



