606 HABITS OF INSECTS. 



them to work as slaves. They have notions of property, and, though 

 some of them practice cannibalism, they will amuse themselves in more 

 pleasant occupations, tumbling and playing together like kittens or pup- 

 Habits of pi es - With a sentiment of strict justice, the wasp who has re- 

 insects, turned from a successful foray divides his booty among the 

 males, females, and the laborers who have been working in the vespiary ; 

 nor is the sentinel, who is doing duty at the door, forgotten. If, through 

 the chances of war or by accident, any one has sustained a grave injury, 

 in some tribes the most devoted sympathy is shown : the ant will carry 

 his wounded friend out of the hot of the fight ; in other tribes a more 

 than Roman firmness is displayed : the sufferer is put out of pain by his 

 companion. Expecting an attack, some insects will shut their doors at 

 night, and barricade them within, or, if the danger is continual, will build 

 masked gateways in succession, with interior walls that command them. 

 They are no contemptible engineers. They can construct and maintain 

 roads of great length, with paths branching from them, which, if neces- 

 sary, they keep mown. They cross streams by throwing themselves 

 into floating bridges, and the damage done to their premises by an in- 

 vader they show the most singular skill and alacrity in repairing. How 

 many are the contrivances to which insects resort to carry out their pur- 

 poses ! The caterpillar of the cabbage butterfly makes a ladder and goes 

 up it ; the geometrical caterpillar lets down a rope, and, for fear of hurt- 

 ing himself, drops a foot at a time. The gossamer spider sends forth a 

 thread fine enough to act like a balloon, and, floating in the air, he de- 

 scends or rises by winding it up or letting it out. There are other in- 

 sects which make diving-bells, and go under the water. No bird makes 

 a net, no beast a pitfall : men and insects do both. A gang of sailors 

 will carry a spar by supporting it on alternate sides on their shoulders ; 

 a gang of ants will, in like manner, carry a straw or a long worm. There 

 are spiders which show as much dexterity as an Indian in sneaking for- 

 ward to get in reach of their prey. 



In their domestic economy, how wonderful ! Some build their houses 

 of artificial stone, some of pasteboard which they make. Some cover 

 their rooms with tapestry, some lay carpets of silk on the floor, some 

 hang their doors on silk hinges, so that they shut by their own weight. 

 They make arches, domes, 'colonnades, stair-cases. They practice con- 

 cealment of food. Ray, an accurate observer and a very pious man, says 

 of a sand-wasp that it carried a caterpillar fifteen feet, removed a pellet 

 that closed the mouth of a hole, deposited its booty therein, came out, 

 and rolled the pellet back on the hole, scratched dust thereon like a dog, 

 went for rosin to agglutinate it, leveled the ground, and put two pine 

 leaves to mark the place. However much we may smile at this anec- 

 dote, it may satisfy us of the high opinion entertained of the accom- 



