60 OUR HOUSEHOLD INSECTS 



the opposite effect to that intended, and cause them to 

 adhere to the somewhat sticky compound they might be 

 attacking ; and altogether it is not surprising that male- 

 dictions are often showered on their devoted heads when 

 they are caught in the act of pilfering. 



It is extremely difficult to protect anything from 

 them ; they are so small that they will insinuate them- 

 selves into the smallest possible openings and crevices, 

 and very little short of hermetical closing is of any 

 avail against them. Should they happen to invade the 

 home oft an entomologist, he may well tremble for his 

 treasures, for dead insects are just as acceptable to them 

 as cakes or fruit. I remember having had in my young 

 days several painful experiences of this kind. On one 

 occasion I had just braced out on the setting-board a 

 beautiful specimen of the Wood Leopard Moth (the 

 first of its kind that had fallen to my lot), and had 

 put it aside to dry ; on looking at it the next morning 

 I was horrified at discovering that two large holes had 

 been excavated in its great fat body, and that as a 

 cabinet specimen it was ruined; the crowds of tiny 

 red robbers clustered round the insect, and, running 

 over the board, told the tale of the origin of the holes, 

 and many were the corpses that fell as an expiation. 

 On other occasions I have had the bodies of small 

 moths completely eaten up by these destructive little 

 creatures while the specimens were drying on the 

 setting-boards. 



Monomorium is not the only foreign ant that has 

 taken up its quarters with us, though by far the com- 

 monest. One or two others are found occasionally in 

 hothouses, the high temperature of which serves to 

 remind them of the tropical climate of their native 

 regions. 



