HYMENOPTERA. 387 



insects attentively, is of opinion that they use them in the same way 

 as a blind man does his stick, to feel their way with, for their sight is 

 not good. The age to which ants live is not well known. It is 

 believed that the workers live many years. 



Ants eat all sorts of things. One sees them eating fresh or decay- 

 ing meat, fruits, flowers, particularly everything which is sugary. They 

 attack living insects, and kill them and suck their blood. Like many 

 insects, they are very fond of sugary liquids honey, syrups, pure 

 sugar, &c. Dupont de Nemours relates in his Memoirs that, to 

 guarantee his sugar-basin against the invasion of ants, he had found 

 no better plan than to make it " an island," that is to say, to place it 

 in the middle of a vessel full of water. He felt sure that he had 

 made the fortress safe against any attack ; but listen to the stratagem 

 made use of by the besiegers. The ants climbed up the wall to the 

 ceiling, exactly perpendicularly over the sugar-basin. From there 

 they let themselves fall into the interior of the place, penetrating thus 

 by main force, and without injuring any one, into the magazine. As 

 the ceiling was very high, the draught caused them to deviate from the 

 straight line, and thus a certain number fell into the fosse of the 

 citadel, that is to say, into the water in the vessel. Their companions 

 stationed on the bank made all efforts imaginable to fish out the 

 drowning ants, but were afraid of taking to the water of such a 

 large lake. All that they could do was to stretch out their bodies as 

 far as possible (keeping on the bank the while), to lend a helping 

 hand to their drowning friends. Nevertheless, the salvage did not 

 progress much ; when the ants, which were getting very uneasy, con- 

 ceived a happy thought. A few were seen to run to the ant-hill, and 

 then to reappear. They brought with them a squad of eight grena- 

 diers, who threw themselves into the water without any hesitation, and 

 who, swimming vigorously, seized with their pincers all the drowning 

 ants, and brought them all on to terra firma. Eleven, half-dead, 

 were thus brought to shore, that is, to the rim of the basin. They 

 would probably all of them have succumbed, if their companions had 

 not hastened to lend them assistance. They rolled them in the dust, 

 they brushed them, they rubbed them, they stretched themselves on 

 their dying companions to warm them ; then they rolled them and 

 rubbed them again. Four were restored to life. A fifth half recovered, 

 and, still moving its legs and its antennae a little, was taken home with 

 all sorts of precautions. The six others were dead. They were 

 carried into the ant-hill by their afflicted companions. It seems like 

 a dream to read such things as this, and yet Dupont de Nemours 

 tells us, " I have seen it !" 



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