S36 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 



tube of earth or other materials, and thus confine them in a kind of pad- 

 dock near their nest, and often communicating with it. 



The greatest cow-keeper of all the ants is one to be met with in most 

 of our pastures, residing in hemispherical formicaries, which are sometimes 

 of considerable diameter. I mean the yellow ant of Gould (F.jftava). 

 This species, which is not fond of roaming from home, and likes to have 

 all its conveniences within reach, usually collects in its nest a large herd 

 of a kind of Aphis that derives its nutriment from the roots of grass and 

 other plants (Aphis radicum) ; these it transports from the neighbouring 

 roots, probably by subterranean galleries, excavated for the purpose, 

 leading from the nest in all directions 1 ; and thus, without going out, it 

 has always at hand a copious supply of food. These creatures share its 

 care and solicitude equally with its own offspring. To the eggs it pays 

 particular attention, moistening them with its tongue, carrying them in its 

 mouth with the utmost tenderness, and giving them the advantage of the 

 sun. This last fact I state from my own observation; for once upon 

 opening one of these ant-hills early in the spring, on a sunny day, I ob- 

 served a parcel of these eggs, which I knew by their black colour, very 

 near the surface of the nest. My attack put the ants into a great ferment, 

 and they immediately began to carry these interesting objects down into 

 the interior of the nest. It is of great consequence to them to forward 

 the hatching of these eggs as much as possible, in order to insure an early 

 source of food for their colony ; and they had doubtless in this instance 

 brought them up to the warmest part of their dwelling with this view. 

 M. Huber, in a nest of the same ant, at the foot of an oak, once found the 

 eggs of Aphis Quercus. 



Our yellow ants are equally careful of their Aphides after they are 

 hatched ; when their nest is disturbed conveying them into the interior ; 

 fighting fiercely for them if the inhabitants of neighbouring formicaries, as 

 is sometimes the case, attempt to make them their prey; and carrying 

 them about in their mouths to change their pasture, or for some other 

 purpose. When you consider that from them they receive almost the 

 whole nutriment both of themselves and larvae, you will not wonder at 

 their anxiety about them, since the wealth and prosperity of the commu- 

 nity is in proportion to the number of their cattle. Several other species 

 keep Aphides in their nests, but none in such numbers as those of which 

 I am speaking. 2 



JNot only the Aphides yield this repast to the ants, but also the Cocci, 

 with whom they have recourse to similar manoeuvres, and with equal suc- 

 cess ; only in this case the movement of the antennae over their body may 

 be compared to the thrill of the finger over the keys of a piano-forte ; and 

 in the tropical regions of India and Brazil (where no Aphides occur) it 

 appears, from the observations of General Hardwicke, M. Lund, M.Bescke, 

 and MM. Spix and Martius, that the ants milk the larvae and pupa of 

 various species of Cercopis and Membracis? But what is still more extra- 

 ordinary, even beetles are occasionally made cows of by Formica flava, the 



1 Huber, 195. I have more than once found these Aphides in the nests of this 

 species of ant. 



* See Huber, chap. vi. I have found Aphides in the nest of Myrmica rubra. 

 Boisier de Sauvages speaks of ants keeping their own Aphides, and gives an in- 

 teresting account of them. Journ. de Physique, i, 195. 

 . 3 Westwood, Mod. Class of Ins. ii. 239. 434. 



