312 HABITS AND INSTINCTS OP ANIMALS. CHAP. X, 



no external nest. In a box of clothes, which had not 

 been opened for several months, we had the misfortune 

 to discover a colony of these insects ; they had made 

 their lodgment at the bottom, and were gradually eating 

 upwards, through woollen and linen cloths, which were 

 perforated with holes, and soiled with their cement in 

 every part. There were many thousands ; so that, to 

 prevent the escape of any, we were obliged to pour 

 kettles of boiling water into the trunk, an operation 

 which prevented, indeed, the escape of any individual, 

 but debarred us from the pleasure and instruction of 

 studying their history. We must now take our leave of 

 these wonderful little creatures, and proceed to notice 

 the true ants, in whose economy we shall find fresh 

 matter to excite astonishment. 



(316.) The family of ants (Formicidce Sw.) is un- 

 questionably the most numerous, in regard to indivi- 

 duals, of any in the whole circle of winged insects 

 (Ptilota) ; for, while the Termites are almost exclusively 

 tropical, the ants have their colonies thickly planted 

 over the greatest part of the habitable world. There 

 is scarcely a field in Britain that does not contain 

 millions, while in tropical regions their numbers are 

 so vast, that the rooms of inhabited houses are daily 

 infested by their inroads. Our knowledge of the Ter- 

 mites cannot be increased by personal observation, but 

 the histories of the ants can be verified by ourselves : 

 we see these little industrious creatures in our summer 

 walks ; we cannot rest upon a bank without reclining 

 upon the walls of their cities, and we may contemplate 

 their proceedings while reposing after the fatigues of a 

 walk. The practical naturalist will, therefore, feel an 

 additional interest in the proceedings of creatures sur- 

 rounding him, whose operations are carried on in his 

 native soil, and, perhaps, in his own garden. In the 

 following pages we shall, therefore, carefully note such 

 species a are natives, without passing over, too suc- 

 cinctly, the wonderful economy of many that are 

 foreigners. 



