ORDER VI. VEIN-WINGED INSECTS. 251 



quarter of an hour, after which they are earned down under 

 the first stratum, and there fed. 



We may receive still greater evidence of their intelligence 

 if we observe their language of signs. If the ants on the 

 outside of the hill are disturbed by strange ants, part of 

 them will at once put themselves into offensive and defens- 

 ive position, while others will immediately run into the hill 

 and alarm those within, who then come rushing out to as- 

 sist their brethren in attacking the foe, while the guardians 

 of the nurseries carry the maggots and pupoe to the lowest 

 part of the hill for greater security. 



So, if one ant discovers a closet where arc sweet articles, 

 such as fruit or sugar, it quickly returns to its fellows for 

 the purpose of acquainting them of its discovery, and in a 

 very short time whole swarms of them will arrive with the 

 discoverer to divide the spoils. They go out in companies, 

 also, to drink, of which they are very fond ; but if one of 

 them is disturbed in so doing he communicates the fact im- 

 mediately to all the rest by pushing the one nearest him, 

 who passes on the news in the same way to all the rest, 

 when all receiving the sign run to the hill ; but if any one 

 is not attentive to such admonition, he is seized by the legs 

 und dragged to the hill. In general, they give signs to one 

 another in all their operations by their angular or elbowed 

 antennae, which work somewhat like the old French tele- 

 graph. With their antennas they also express their friend- 

 ship and love, as we may see when we observe them caress- 

 ing one another, or their friends the plant-lice. 



Their social sympathy, and their mutual attachment for 

 one another, is as great, and even greater than that of the 

 bees ; for it is well known that, even when cut into pieces, 

 they do not cease to defend their mansion and their off- 

 spring. The head and thorax of an ant, without any hind 

 body, have been seen to carry a pupa to a place of security. 

 And Professor Latreille cut off the antennas of some ants, 



