126 THE INSECT WORLD. 



bigger than itself, and carry them away into a dark place 



However, the ants do not always act so gently towards them. When 

 they fear that they may be carried off by ants of another kind, and 

 living near their habitation, or when one opens up too suddenly the turf 

 under which they are hidden, they seize them up in haste and carry 

 them off to the bottom of their little cavern. I have seen the ants 

 of two different ant-hills fighting for their plant-lice. When those 

 belonging to one ants' nest could enter the nest of the others, they 

 took them away from their rightful owners, and often these took 

 possession of them again in their turn ; for the ants know well the 

 value of these little animals, which seem made on purpose for them, 

 — they are the ants' treasures. An ants' nest is more or less rich, 

 according as it is more or less stocked with plant-lice. The plant- 

 lice are its cattle, its cows, its goats. One would never have thought 

 that the ants were a pastoral people ! "* 



Their hiding in the ants' nest is not voluntary ; they are prisoners 

 of war. The ants, after having hollowed out galleries in the midst 

 of roots, make a foray upon the turf, and seize upon plant-lice 

 scattered about here and there, bringing them with them, and collect 

 them together in their nests. The captive insects take their wrongs 

 with patience, and behave like philosophers under this new kind of 

 life. They lavish on their masters, with the best grace in the world, 

 the nutritious juices with which their bodies superabound. Charles 

 Bonnet has stated some real wonders of the cleverness and industry 

 of other ants which also make a provision of plant-lice. 



" I discovered one day," says he, "a Euphorbia, w^hich supported 

 in the middle of its stem a small sphere, to which it served as the 

 axis. It was a case which the ants had constructed of earth. They 

 issued forth from this by a very narrow opening made in its base, 

 descended the stem, and passed into a neighbouring ants' nest. I 

 destroyed one part of this pavilion, built almost in the air, so that I 

 might study the interior. It was a little room, the vault-shaped walls 

 of which were smooth and even. The ants had profited by the form of 

 the plant to sustain their edifice. The stalk passed up the centre of 

 the apartment, and for its timber-work it had the leaves. This 

 retreat contained a numerous family of plant-lice, to which the 

 brown ants came peacefully, to make their harvest, sheltered from 

 the rain, the sun, and from other ants. No insect could disturb 

 them ; and the plant-lice were not exposed to the attacks of their 

 numerous enemies. I admired this trait of industry ; and I was not 



* " Recherches," &c., pp. 192 — 194. 



