THE ANT. 



THE ant has been so thoroughly exploited by Sir John 

 Lubbock and others, that it is altogether unnecessary 

 to enter upon any description of its customs and habits. It 

 may at once be assumed that, for its size, it is the most 

 intelligent of all created beings. Were each particle of the 

 brain of man animated by a vigour and sagacity equal to 

 that which vivifies the tiny speck of brain matter in the head 

 of an ant, imagination altogether fails to picture the result, 

 or to appreciate even faintly the wisdom and power that 

 man would in that case possess. But even as matters stand, 

 we may with advantage learn much from the ant, especially 

 from the more highly organised tropical varieties, in which 

 we may include the termite, popularly known as the white 

 ant, although in reality belonging to another family. Here 

 we see regular communities dwelling together, governed by 

 their own laws and customs, and exhibiting the spectacle of 

 a nation acting in accordance with natural laws. It must be 

 painful to republicans to find that in the great majority of 

 communities of what we are pleased to consider inferior 

 creatures, the monarchical principle distinctly prevails. In 

 ants, bees, and wasps, the most completely organised of 

 such communities, there is a natural head, not elected or 

 173 



