226 Modern Entomology. (April, 
most philosopical as well as most reverent attitude is to 
dismiss, as beyond our reach, all enquiries as to “‘ why” 
animals exist. 
Another error of entomologists is their tendency to digress 
into learned, but tedious and utterly irrelevant, disquisitions 
on the names borne by certain genera or species. This may 
be interesting to the antiquarian, but it is not entomology. 
Significant names have generally the fatal defect of being 
too long for men who cannot hope to exceed three score 
and ten years of life. We wish that, in this respect at 
least, our modern naturalists would follow the example of 
Linneus. 
Turning to the chapter on Ants—beings whose wonderful 
intelligence makes us overlook their destructive propen- 
sities—we quote the following passage as a fair specimen of 
the author’s matter :—‘‘ In the various accounts of ant-life 
which have been narrated by observers, there is often an 
absolutely startling resemblance to the conduct of human 
beings. We have heard of ants which make regular slave- 
hunting expeditions into the territory of less powerful ants, 
carry off their captives, and make them their servants. We 
know of ants which build walls and domed roofs. We 
know of ants which have their milch-kine (aphides and 
scale-inse¢ts), and which tend and guard them as carefully 
as any dairyman tends his cows. We know of ants which 
cultivate the ground, keep it clear of weeds, sow the future 
crop, and when the harvest has come to maturity, get it in 
just like human beings. In the history which now follows, 
a new and unexpected phase of human life is found to exist 
among ants—namely, funeral honours paid to the dead and 
their burial in the earth.” The author then quotes from 
the ‘‘ Journal of the Linnzan Society,” vol. v., p. 217, 4 
communication from Mrs. L. Hutton, of Sydney. This lady, 
having killed a number of ants which were stinging her 
little boy, and having flung the bodies aside, witnessed 
afterwards the following scene; ‘‘I saw a number of the 
ants surrounding the dead ones. At last four ran off very 
quickly, and I followed them till I saw them enter a hillock 
containing an ants’ nest. They remained here about five 
minutes, when a number more came out two by two, and 
proceeded slowly to the place where their dead companions 
lay. Here they seemed to wait for something, and presently 
we saw, coming from the other side near the creek, a 
number surpassing those I had followed, and halting at the 
same place. Then two ants took up one of the dead ones 
