130 THE INSECT WOULD. 



when they were set down they remained in the place chosen 

 for them by their guardians. When the ants wished to move 

 them to a fresh place, they began by caressing them with their 

 antennae, as if to request them to abandon their roots or to 

 withdraw their trunk from the cavity in which it was inserted ; 

 then they took them gently above or below the abdomen with 

 their teeth, and carried them with the same care they would have 

 bestowed on the larvae of their own species. I saw the same ant 

 take three plant-lice in succession, each 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 

 frere 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 philo- 

 sophers 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, which supported 

 * Recherches, &c., pp. 192 194. 



