). 6. 



TJie Honey Bee and the Ant. 



191 



being all strange to him. The land — 

 ■asured off by himself — was ploughed hith- 

 about; and so neat and true was the work 

 •formed, that if a line had been stretched 

 oss from the double furrow, and including 

 there could not have been a variation of 

 3 inches, either in the width of the fur- 

 v, or height thrown, including also the 

 Bring furrow, which was the best done in 

 : whole ; for so straight was the sod laid 

 1 evenly gauged, that the open furrow 

 s just the width of the share and bar, or 

 e of the plough, and no more ; and most 

 gantly finished. Notwithstanding all this, 



judges, John Barney, Peterson Reading, 

 1 B. Caulk, Esqrs., gave the award to 

 vi Ryan, the owner of the Concave 

 ugh ; alleging, that if the work had been 

 ie by the Englishman, (the holder of the 

 >uty plough) it would have been better 

 formed ! a strange award indeed. 



John Jones. 



Wheatland, Delaware, May 27th, 1842. 



^ote. — Mr. Ryan never demanded the 

 1-calf. Whether it was that he consi- 

 ed it honour sufficient to have obtained 

 award, or from a feeling that he had not 

 iquered, is not said : the animal, now a 

 ; grown beast, will be again submitted 

 competition. 



The Honey Bee, and the Ant. 



TVe have seen how wonderfully the Bee 

 rks according to rules discovered by man, 

 usands of years after the insect had been 

 owing them with perfect accuracy : but 

 same little animal seems to be acquainted 

 h principles of which we are still ignorant. 

 3 can, by crossing, vary the forms of cattle 

 h astonishing nicety, but we have no 

 ans of altering the nature of an animal, 

 :e born, by means of treatment and feed- 

 I this power is, however, undeniably pos- 

 sed by the bees, for when the queen-bee 

 lost by death or otherwise, they choose a 

 ib from amongst those which are born for 

 rkers, make three cells into one, and plac- 

 1 the grub there, they build a tube around 

 md afterwards build another cell of a pyr- 

 idal form, into which the grub grows; 

 y then feed it with peculiar food, and tend 

 vith extreme care, and it becomes, when 

 nsformed from the worm to the fly, not a 

 rker, but a queen-bee. These singular 

 ects resemble our own species in one of 

 ' worst propensities — the disposition to 

 r, but their attention to their sovereign is 

 tally extraordinary, although of a some- 

 at capricious kind. In a few hours after 

 :ir queen is lost, the whole hive is in a 

 te of utter confusion; a singular humming 

 heard, and the bees are seen moving all 



over the surface of the combs with great ra- 

 pidity ; the news spread quickly, and when 

 the queen is restored, quiet immediately suc- 

 ceeds; but if another queen is put upon them, 

 they instantly discover the trick, and sur- 

 rounding her, they either suffocate or starve 

 her to death. This happens if the false queen 

 is introduced within a few hours after the 

 first is lost or removed ; but if twenty-four 

 hours have elapsed, they will receive any 

 queen, and obey her. 



But the labours and policy of the ants, 

 when closely examined, are still more won- 

 derful, perhaps, than those of the bees. Their 

 nest is a city consisting of dwelling-places, 

 halls, streets and squares, into which the 

 streets open ; the food they principally like, 

 is the honey which comes from another in- 

 sect found in their neighbourhood, and which 

 they, generally speaking, bring home from 

 day to day as they want it ; late discoveries 

 have shown that they do not eat grain, but 

 live almost entirely on animal food and this 

 honey. Some kinds of ants have the fore- 

 sight to bring home the insects on whose ho- 

 ney they feed, and keep them in particular 

 cells, where they guard them to prevent their 

 escape, and feed them with proper vegetable 

 matter, which they do not eat themselves ; 

 nay, they obtain the eggs of these insects and 

 superintend their hatching, and then rear the 

 young insect until it becomes capable of sup- 

 plying the desired honey ; sometimes remov- 

 ing them to the strongest parts of their nest, 

 where there are cells apparently fortified for 

 protecting them from invasion ; and in these 

 cells the insects are kept, to supply the wants 

 of the ants which compose the population of 

 the city. And it is a most singular circum- 

 stance in the economy of nature, that the de- 

 gree of cold at which the ant becomes torpid, 

 is also that at which this insect falls into the 

 same state : this being considerably below the 

 freezing point, they require food the greater 

 part of the winter, and if the insects on which 

 they depend for food, were not kept alive du- 

 ring the cold in which the ants can move 

 about, the latter would be without the means 

 of subsistence. 



How trifling soever this little animal may 

 appear in one climate, there are few more 

 formidable creatures than the ant of some 

 tropical countries. A French traveller has 

 described one of their cities, and were not 

 the account confirmed by various testimonies, 

 it might seem exaggerated. He observed at 

 a great distance, what seemed a lofty struc- 

 ture, and was informed by his guide that it 

 consisted of an ant-hill, which could not be 

 approached without danger of being devour- 

 ed ! Its height was from 15 to 20 feet, and 

 its base was 30 or 40 feet square, its sides 



