WHAT I SAW IN AN ANT'S NEST. 337 



(Formica ntfa, Fig. 66), has little individual intelligence, but 

 is extremely socialistic, and moves and acts en masse with 

 precision and tact Another species (F. fused} is timid and 

 retiring. F. pratensis is a revengeful creature, since it 

 "worries" its fallen foes; F. cinerea is bold and audacious; 

 others are termed "thieves" and "cowards;" some are 

 phlegmatic ; and to complete the list of failings and traits 

 which are human enough in character, one species is said to 

 present an invariable greediness as its prevailing character- 

 istic. The common ants resemble the termites in the general 

 details of their life. We see in an ant's nest the same restless 

 activity of the workers, the same earnest attention paid to 

 the young and pupae, the same instinct in shielding the young 

 from danger, and much the same general routine of develop- 

 ment Certain rather special, and it may be said extraor- 

 dinary, habits of ants may, however, demand notice before 



FIG. 67. Apple aphis (Eriosonta malt) : a, wingless insect, magnified ; b, wingless 

 insect in excrescence of the tree, magnified. 



we attempt a brief survey of their instincts at large. Few 

 readers are unacquainted with the Aphides, or plant-lice, those 

 little wingless insects which infest our plants and herbs in 

 myriads in summer. It is a fact now well known to natural- 

 ists, and first placed on record by Huber, that between the 

 ants and plant-lice, relations of a very friendly and, as far as 

 the ants are concerned, advantageous character have become 

 established. Ants have been observed to stroke the tips of 



z 



