PEEFACE. Vii 



1 had intended to make my observations principally 

 on bees ; but I soon found that ants were more con- 

 venient for most experimental purposes, and I think 

 they have also more power and flexibility of mind. 

 They are certainly far calmer, and less excitable. 



I do not attempt to give anything like a full life- 

 history of ants, but I have here reproduced the sub- 

 stance of two Royal Institution lectures, which may 

 serve as an introduction to the subject. Many of the 

 facts there recorded will doubtless be familiar to most 

 of my readers, but without the knowledge of them the 

 experiments described in the subsequent chapters would 

 scarcely be intelligible. 



I have given a few plates illustrating some of the 

 species to which reference has been most frequently 

 made ; selecting Lithography (as I was anxious that the 

 figures should be coloured), and having all the species 

 of ants drawn to one scale, although I was thus obliged 

 in some measure to sacrifice the sharpness of outline, 

 and the more minute details. I am indebted to Mr. 



