ANTS AND APHIDS. I29 



Late in July, when the ants and their cows were thought 

 of again, the lettuce had all been removed from the gar- 

 den, and there were neither white aphids nor that particu- 

 lar kind of ants to be seen. Then came an idea. Nearly 

 all insects that feed upon plants are wonderful botanists. 

 Perhaps these ants that take such care of their aphids 

 may have learned something of botany too. 



The garden lettuce, Laduca sativa, belongs to the order 

 Compositae. In the same order an allied genus is Tarax- 

 acum. T. dcns-leonis is the dandelion, There were sev- 

 eral dandelion plants at the edge of the garden, two or 

 three rods away from the lettuce bed. We hastened for a 

 trowel, and, sure enough, the first dandelion root examined 

 was covered with the white aphids, and many of the indi- 

 viduals of Lasiiis flavus, the Yellow Meadow ant, were 

 moving contentedly about near by. 



This was the last we saw of the ants and their ' ' cows ' ' 

 until we found them beneath the heavy flower- box in No- 

 vember. 



He roved among the vales and streams, 

 In the green wood and hollow dell ; 

 They were his dwellings night and day, — 

 But Nature ne'er could find the way 

 Into the heart of Peter Bell. 



In vain, through every changeful year, 

 Did Nature lead him as before ; 

 A primrose by a river's brim 

 A yellow primrose was to him. 

 And it was nothing more, 



— [Wordsworth. 



