FUNERAL ANTS. 431 



future crop, and, when the harvest has come to maturity, get it 

 in, just like human beings. In the history which now follows, 

 a new and unexpected phase of human life is found to exist 

 among Ants ; namely, funeral honours paid to the dead, and 

 burial in the earth. 



In the " Journal of the Linnaean Society," vol. v. p. 217, is 

 a singularly interesting communication by Mrs. Lewis Hutton, 

 of Sydney, New South Wales : — 



" One very hot and cloudless day, when not a breath of air 

 stirred the leaves, my eldest boy (four years old), coming up 

 from the beach fatigued and hot, threw himself on a grassy 

 mound near where I was sitting, and remained quietly enjoying 

 the rest and the pleasure he would have in showing to his sister 

 the pretty shells and corals he had found. I was startled by a 

 sudden scream, such as one only gives when in terrible pain. 

 A snake was my first thought, and in horror I went to the child, 

 but was at once reassured by seeing him covered with ' Soldier 

 Ants,' on whose nest he had unwittingly laid down. Some of 

 the insects still clung on with their forceps and stung my poor 

 boy, who roared with pain at every fresh attack, while I killed 

 them as fast as I could, assisted by the nurse. At length all 

 were removed, about twenty being left dead on the ground. 



" Going to see the little fellow bathed with something to ease 

 the pain, I was absent about half-an-hour, and then returned to 

 the same place, when I saw a number of the Ants surrounding 

 the dead ones. Being fond of natural history, and having read 

 much concerning the instinct of Ants, I determined to watch 

 them closely. At last, four ran off very quickly, and I followed 

 them until I saw them enter a hillock containing an ants' nest, 

 which we had in vain tried to get rid of on account of the 

 annoyance caused by their close vicinity to our sitting tent. 



" They remained here about five minutes, when a number 

 more came out two by two and proceeded slowly to the place 

 where their dead companions lay. Here they seemed to wait 

 for something, and presently we saw coming from the other side 

 near the creek, a number surpassing those I had followed, and 

 halting at the same place. Then two Ants took up one of the 

 dead ones and marched off, followed by two others as mourners ; 

 then two others entered the procession with a second dead Ant, 

 succeeded in the same way by another pair, and so on until 



