Doubts respecting the (Economy of Ants. 
211 
XLIII. On some Doubts respecting the (Economy of Ants. 
By the Rev. F. W. Hope. 
[Read 7th February, 1837-] 
Tiie word which in our translation of the Bible is termed “ Ant,” 
is in Hebrew called Nemala, in Greek Myrmex, in Latin Formica, 
and in the Turkish and Arabic languages Neml. In the Pro- 
verbs (chap. vi. ver. G, and chap. xxx. ver. 25) the sluggard is 
directed to go to the ant, “ and consider her ways and in a se- 
cond passage we are told that “ they prepare their meat in the 
summer.” Now that the ancients believed that ants hoarded up 
grains of corn will, I think, be generally admitted ; that they 
hoarded them up against the winter, or that they hoard at all, is 
denied by some modern Entomologists. That ants hoarded up 
grains as winter store, there is not the slightest intimation that I 
can find in any part of the Bible ; and we may ask, Whence then 
has the opinion originated ? Probably with other writers. Let 
us for a moment refer to the poets of antiquity ; they will assist 
us to solve the question. In Virgil we find that his opinion of 
their instinct amounted nearly to reason, where he states (vide 
Geor. I. v. 184) in the Georgies — “ inopi metuens formica se- 
nectae.” In the fourth JEneid, line 402, he mentions that the 
grain was hoarded up against the winter. 
“ veluti ingentem formicae farris acervum 
Quum populant, liiemis memores tectisque reponunt.” 
The well-known passage in the Satires of Horace is somewhat 
in accordance with the above.* 
If, in addition to the above quotations, any individual doubts 
that the ant is provident, let him consult the third volume of the 
Hierozoicon, where the learned and indefatigable Bochart cites a 
host of authors, all concurring in the same opinion. Indeed, so 
* “ sicut 
Parvula (nam exemplo est) magni formica laboris 
Ore trahit, quodcunque potest, atque addit acervo 
Quem struit, baud ignara ac non incauta futuri. 
Qua;, simul inversum contristat Aquarius annum, 
Non usquam prorepit, et illis utitur ante 
Quaesitis sapiens.” — Vide Sat. I. lib. i. ver. 33. 
Hesiod, among the early Greek writers, called the ant Idris; that is, wise. 
Sopheanus, an Arabian author, gives us also the following passage: “ Nullum 
animal cibum recondit pra;ter hominem, formicam, et murem and Poli, in his 
Synopsis, adds — “ sed nmsad breve tempus recondit, sola formica in annum unum 
et plures.” 
