MICROSCOPIC DRAINS. 9 



they would have run their heads against the 

 nearest tree, or rushed down the gaping throat 

 of the first expectant swallow, and so effec- 

 tually extinguished their race. Flying animals 

 cannot do without eyes, and they always 

 possess the most highly developed vision of 

 any living creatures. But the wingless neuters 

 are almost blind in some species quite so ; 

 and Sir John Lubbock has shown that their 

 appreciation of colour is mostly confined to 

 an aversion to red light, and a comparative 

 endurance of blue. Moreover, they are ap- 

 parently deaf, and most of their other senses 

 seem little developed. What can be the raw 

 material on which that pin's head of a brain 

 sets itself working ? For, small as it is, it is 

 a wonderful organ of intellect ; and though 

 Sir John Lubbock has shown us all too 

 decisively that the originality and inventive 

 genius of ants have been sadly overrated by 

 Solomon and others, yet Darwin is probably 

 right none the less in saying that no more 

 marvellous atom of matter exists in the uni- 



