1836.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



387 



and issues in limpid drops from the body of the 

 insect, by two little tubes placed one on each side 

 just above the abdomen. The a^^jhidcs insert 

 their suckers into the tender b:irk o( a tree, and 

 employ themselves without intermission in ab- 

 sorbing its sap; which, having passed through tbo 

 digestive system of the insect, is discharged by 

 the organs just described. When no ants happen 

 to be at hand to receive this treasure, the insects 

 eject it to a distance by a jerking motion, which 

 at regular intervals they give their bodies. When 

 the ants, however, are in attendance, they care- 

 fully watch the emission of this precious fluid, and 

 immediately suck it down. The ants not only 

 consume this fluid when volunlarily ejected by 

 the aphides, but what is still more surprisinir, 

 they know how to make them yield it at pleasure; 

 or, in other terms, to milk them. On this occa- 

 sion the antennfe of the ants discharge the same 

 functions as the fingers of a milk-maid: with 

 these orcrans, moved very rapidly, they pat the 

 abdomen of an aphis first on one side and then on 

 the other: a little drop of the much coveted juice 

 immediately issues forth, which the ant eagerly 

 conveys to its mouth. The milk of one aphis 

 having been thus exhausted, the ant proceeds to 

 treat others in the same manner, until at length it 

 is satiated, when it returns to its nest. 



A still more singular fact, connected with thi= 

 branch of the natural economy of these insects, 

 remains to be stated. These cows are not al- 

 ways considered the common property oi'a whole 

 tribe; on the contrary, some of them are appro- 

 priated to the exclusive use of the inhabitants of 

 a particular hill or nest; and to keep these cows to 

 themselves, they exert all their skill and industry. 

 Sometimes the aphides inhabiting the branches of 

 a particular tree, or the stalks of a particular plant, 

 are thus appropriated; and if any vagrant foreign- 

 ers attempt to share this treasure with its true 

 owners, the latter, exhibiting every symptom of 

 uneasiness aud anger, employ all their efforts to 

 drive them away. 



Some species of ants go in search of these 

 aphides on the vegetables where they feed; but 

 there are others, as the yellow ant, which collect 

 a large herd ol a kind ol" aphis, which derives its 

 nutriment from the roots of grass and other 

 plants. These milch kine they remove from their 

 native plants and domesticate in their habitations, 

 affording, as Huber justly observes, an example 

 of almost human industry and sagacity. On 

 turning up the nest of the yellow ant, this natu- 

 ralists one day saw a variety of aphides either 

 wandering about in the different chambers, or at- 

 tached to the roots of plants which penetrated in- 

 to the interior. The ants appeared to be ex- 

 tremely jealous of their stock of cattle; they fol- 

 lowed them about and caressed them, whenever 

 they wished for the honeyed juice, which the 

 aphis never refused to yield. On the slightest ap- 

 pearance of danger, they took them up in their 

 mouths, and gently removed them to a more ehel- 

 lered and more secure spot. They dispute with 

 other ants for them, and in short watch them as 

 keenly as any pastoral people would guard the 

 herds which form their wealth. Other species, 

 which do not gather the aphides together in their 

 own nest, still seem to look on them as private 

 property; they set sentinels to protect their places 

 of resort and drive away other ants; and, \vl'.d[ is 



still more extraordinary, they enclose them as a 

 farmer does his sheep, to preserve them not only 

 (I'om rival ants, but also from the natural enemies 

 of the aphis. 



Il" the branch on which the aphides feed be 

 conveniently situated, the ants have recourse to a 

 very effectual expedient to keep off all trespas- 

 sers: they construct around the branch contain- 

 ing the aphides a tube of earth, or some other ma- 

 'orial, and in this enclosure, formed near the nest 

 and irenerally communicating with it, they secure 

 their cattle against all interlopers. 



The brown ant has been observed by Iluber to 

 build a chamber around the stem of a thistle, in 

 such a way that the stalk passed through the cen- 

 tre, so that from their ant- hill they had only to 

 climb the thistle-stalk, in order to enter this cattle- 

 Ibld, which was suspended in mid-air. The inte- 

 rior, smooth and compact, was cnfirel}' formed of 

 earih; it contained an extensive family of insect- 

 cows, sheltered from the inclemencies of the wea- 

 livr, and protected fiom their enemies. These 

 edifices are not always constructed near the bot- 

 tom of the thistle-stalk; once Huber saw one at 

 the height of five feet from the ground. "These 

 proceedings," says he, "are by no means com- 

 mon: we cannot attribute them to an habitual rou- 

 tine." Indeed, the modes of preserving their cat- 

 tle seem to be as various as those practised by 

 man. Some ants receive their food fi-om the aphi- 

 des which suck the juices of the common plain- 

 tain, and these at first take their station near the 

 Oower of the plant; as soon as the flowers wither, 

 these insect-cows take shelter under the radicle 

 leaves; upon which the ants, which befi)re had 

 climbed up to them, now surround them with a 

 mud wall, aud, making a covered gallery by way 

 of communication between their nest and the 

 "paddock," extract food from them at their conve- 

 nience and pleasure. 



During autumn, winter, and spring, many spe- 

 cies of ants keep aphides. Indeed, in winter (hey 

 would be ex|)osed to the horrors of a famine, did 

 they not rely for food on their cattle; for though 

 they become torpid when exposed to intense cold, 

 yet, for the most part, the depth of their nests 

 preserves for them a temperature sufficiently high 

 t.) prevent this contingency. Their milch cows 

 are then kept on the roots of the plants which pen- 

 etrate the interior of the nest, and furnish an 

 abundant supply of liquid in which their keepers, 

 delight. And not only is the full-grown animal 

 kept, but its eggs are watched and guarded with 

 that care which warrent us in supposing that the 

 ant knows their full value. 



It is of real consequence to the ants that the 

 hatching of the eggs of the aphides should take 

 place as early in the spring as possible, in order 

 to ensure an early supply of food for their colony ; 

 and with the view of hastening this event, ihey 

 deposite them in the warmest part of their dwell- 

 ing. 



The mode in which the habitations of the 

 ants are constructed varies according to the species 

 of this insect. Some excavate their dwellings, 

 and are hence denominated mining ants; others 

 build them on the surfice of the ground, and are, 

 in consequence, termed mason ants; and a third 

 species take up their residence in hollow trees. 

 But whatever may be the mode in which they 

 form their liabitutions, they always contrive to 



