ZOOLOGY. 177 
its annoying depredations. Store-room tables have their 
legs placed in tin or leaden cups, partly filled with this oil. 
‘Shelves, made to hang from the ceiling, have their iron 
supports passing through tin funnels of the same; and 
meat hooks are guarded in a similar manner. It is only 
by these means that any article of food can be considered 
safe from these marauders. The ant is also very destruc- 
tive to the domestic rabbit, to poultry, and young pigeons, 
to caged birds, and to all sick animals; and man himself, 
when in a helpless state, is sometimes attacked by it. 
“ During the heat of summer, millions of these insects 
make their appearance upon every road and pathway, and 
sometimes invade the dwellings of men in such multitudes, 
as to become an intolerable nuisance. Every tree, and 
almost every bush then teems with its black columns, 
ascending and descending in the great occupation of obtain- 
ing food. 
“Finding the ants, one morning, disposed to attack a 
bottle of honey (a common wine bottle), I placed the 
same in a soup plate upon the sideboard, carefully filling 
the plate with water as a protection. On returning 
to the room a short time afterwards, I found the bottle 
swarming with ants, and on a closer inspection was greatly 
surprised to find a column of those insects passing and re- 
passing on the surface of the water, between the rim of 
the plate and the bottle of honey. This they appeared to 
do with perfect ease, merely wetting their feet in the opera- 
tion ; in other words, absolutely walking on the water. 
“There is another peculiarity in the habits of this insect, 
which deserves to be mentioned. If a couple of snipe have 
been killed, and are destined as a present to some friend, 
they will be suspended by a single thread from the upper 
