XX RIVERSIDE LETTERS 155 



they hybernate ? And if so, how are they 

 protected from water and frost combined ? 

 Is it possible that they manage to close up 

 their nests so that the water cannot pene- 

 trate ? If they do this how do they obtain 

 air ? I have often noticed how difficult it 

 is to wet an ant, or to drown one ; perhaps 

 they are covered with some oily substance 

 which keeps them dry, and they may perhaps 

 keep their nests dry by the same oily sub- 

 stance ; but still they would have no air 

 when under water. I would look the subject 

 up in books, but I feel sure this is just one 

 of those things that books would say nothing 

 about. I sat next Sir John Lubbock last 

 year at the Academy dinner, I wish I had 

 thought of it then as I might have asked 

 him. 



