170 THE MOST GIFTED INSECT BACE. 



for " its master, but set about its task with voluntary 

 goodwill. Then the ants are fond of play, and behave 

 just like children. 



Anyone who watches an ants' nest may see the insects 

 at play with each other. One of their favourite games 

 is for one ant to pick up another in its jaws, carry it for 

 some little distance, and then put it down. The play- 

 mate meanwhile curls itself into a ball, tucks in its 

 legs, and comports itself so that it may be more easily 

 carried. 



They keep domestic pets in the form of a tiny species 

 called Stenamma Westtvoodii. It possesses no popular 

 title, as it is so small scarcely the tenth of an inch in 

 length and is only found in the nests of other ants, the 

 Wood Ant seeming to be its favourite host. 



" The Stenammas," writes Sir J. Lubbock, " follow the 

 Formicas when they change their nest, running about 

 among them, and between their legs, tapping them 

 inquisitively with their antennae, and sometimes even 

 climbing on their backs, as for a ride, while the larger 

 ants seem to take little notice of them. They almost seem 

 to be the dogs, or, perhaps, rather the cats, of the ants." 



The same observer goes on to mention that there is 

 an allied species of much the same size, Solenopsis fugax, 

 which harbours in the nests of larger ants, and, instead 

 of being a pet for them, is a deadly foe. It makes its 

 own galleries and tunnels within those of its unwilling 

 hosts, and carries off their larvae as food. Owing to the 

 small size of its burrows, the plundered ants cannot 



