416 THE ADVENTURES OF 



" No, Master Sunbeam ; the ants are relations of the 

 bees, and, consequently, belong to the order of Hymenop- 

 tera. There are male, female, and neuter or working ants. 

 The males and females are born with wings ; but after the 

 females have laid their eggs, they drop off these append- 

 ages, and assist the workers engaged in constructing the 

 habitation, taking care of the young ones, and collecting 

 the provisions required for the colony." 



" Look here ! one might fancy that the very grass was 

 walking along." 



" It is the ants which have stripped a tree of its leaves, 

 in order to hoard them up in their store-houses a useless 

 precaution, for these insects become torpid during the win- 

 ter months." 



Lucien approached the moving column, which was divid- 

 ed into two lines going contrary ways; one of them ad- 

 vancing loaded with vegetable remains, and the other go- 

 ing back with empty mandibles. Nothing could be more 

 interesting than to see thousands of these little creatures 

 walking along in perfect order, eagerly carrying or drag- 

 ging a load five or six times greater than themselves. Lu- 

 cien followed them. The column entered the forest, and 

 crawled up a tree, the lower limbs of which were already 

 stripped of their leaves, causing it to look as .if it were 

 dead. The ants climbed nearer and nearer to the top, and 

 the summit was visibly losing its foliage. 



" How long will they take to carry away all the leaves 

 off that great tree ?" asked Lucien. 



" They will have finished their work by this evening," I 

 answered. 



Gringalet, who with generous confidence was lying down 

 a few steps behind us, and had not seen his enemies creep- 

 ing slyly over him, got up and began howling. 



" Will you never be prudent ?" cried 1'Encuerado. 



