ANTS. 53 



and method of observation, which bring within 

 view all the operations which these insects 

 had hitherto conducted in secret. The diffi- 

 culties he had to contend with, in contriving 

 a glass case which would admit the light into 

 their apartments, without alarming or dis- 

 turbing them in their employments, were at 

 first great, but by perseverance were at length 

 overcome. Even methods which succeeded 

 for a time, were frequently defeated by the 

 sagacity of these insects, who are extremely 

 Jealous of intruders, exquisitely sensible to all 

 variations of temperature, and always alarmed 

 at the presence of light in their subterraneous 

 abodes. At last, by placing wooden boxes 

 with glass windows, in which he had intro- 

 duced a nest of Ants, on a table in his study, 

 and keeping them prisoners, by immersing 

 the feet of the table in buckets of water, he 

 was enabled to make them the subject of 

 continued observation, and vary his experi- 

 ments on the same individuals. Habit, and 

 the experience that no evil was intended, gra- 

 dually reconciled the Ants to the visits of 

 their inspector. By comparing the results of 

 these observations and experiments with si- 

 f3 



