31 6 HABITS AND INSTINCTS OF ANIMALS. CHAP. XX 



gently walk over her, others dance round her ; and sta 

 is generally surrounded with a cluster of attendants, 

 who, if you separate them from her, soon collect them- 

 selves into a body, and inclose her in the midst. " Nay, 

 even if she dies, as if they were unwilling to believe 

 it, they continue the same attention to her, sometimes 

 for months, treating her with the same courtly for- 

 mality as if she were alive and they will brush and 

 lick her incessantly." It seems that some species have 

 only one queen ; while others, as stated by Huber, have 

 several : these, according to the same author, live 

 peaceably together, without showing any spirit of ri- 

 valry. The female lays her eggs in different apart- 

 ments, thus frequently changing her situation and 

 attendants ; and, as there are always to be found many 

 apartments void of eggs, but full of ants, she is never 

 at a loss for an agreeable station, and a submissive 

 retinue. 



(321.) We must now turn to the labourers, the 

 most numerous and industrious portion of the com- 

 munity, and to whom are committed the offices of 

 workers and soldiers. Were not the facts collected 

 together with so much industry by Messrs. Kirby and 

 Spence, sanctioned by such names as Huber, Gould, 

 De Geer, &c., we should deem ocular demonstration 

 absolutely necessary to authenticate, in the estimation 

 of the general reader, the wonders which belong to 

 these intelligent creatures. When he is told that they 

 communicate information to each other, engage in war, 

 possess spies, become robbers and slave -makers, and. 

 have their own sports and amusements, he will be 

 almost tempted to doubt the existence of such beings 

 in creation. Let him, then, himself become a natural- 

 ist, and he will soon discover that the wonders of na- 

 ture are inexhaustible. 



(322.) That ants communicate their ideas, on every 

 needful occasion, will be apparent from the following 

 facts : On disturbing the surface of their nest, the 

 first thing which strikes us is the excessive quickness 



