430 



INSECTS ABROAD. 



a certain code of rules is as strictly observed as in the prize- 

 ring of our own country. It often happens that one of the 

 combatants kills the other, and in that case the body is at 

 once seized by a number of little Ants belongiug to the genus 

 Myrmica, which run in and drag the dead body to their nests. 

 This species begins to swarm somewhere towards the end of 

 May, and the females fly with a loud whirring sound. 



Another species of Componotus has been selected because it 

 has some claims to beauty. Its body is black, but across the 

 middle of the abdomen runs a broad band of greyish white hairs 



Fig. 220.— UomponotuH Bericeivcutns! 

 Black, with white band on abdomen.) 



having a peculiar silken sheen, which has earned for the insect 

 the specific name of scriceiventris, or " silver-belly." 



In the various accounts of Ant life which have been narrated 

 by observers, there is often an absolutely startling resemblance 

 to the conduct of human beings. We have heard of Ants which 

 make regular slave-hunting expeditions into the territory of less 

 powerful Ants, carry off their captives, and make them their 

 servants. We know of Ants which build walls and domed roofs, 

 as if they had been taught by an architect, We know of Ants 

 which have their milch kine, and which tend and guard them as 

 carefully as any dairyman tends his cows. We know of Ants 

 which cultivate the ground, keep it clear of weeds, sow the 



