No. 8. 



Ants and their Cows. 



245 



form a rim : the plate, so prepared, is then 

 to be set on edge round the bed or plant. 

 We have had one circular rim made with 

 the copper on the inside instead of the out- 

 side, and having - enclosed a number of snails 

 and slugs in it, we find them hitherto, ef- 

 fectually imprisoned ; and this we conceive 

 to be a more efficient test of the galvanic 

 influence, than employing it to protect a 

 plant ; because in the latter case, the crea- 

 ture may turn for food elsewhere, but in the 

 former, it must starve, if it does not cross 

 the galvanic battery." — Ed. 



P. S. It must be added, Mr. Walker is 

 not certain that the galvanic arrangement 

 operates on dry animals ; but on the mollus- 

 ca tribe it does, powerfully. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet 

 Ants and their Cows. 



In an interesting article in the last num- 

 ber of the Cabinet, mention is made of a 

 singular little animal, from which the ant is 

 accustomed to collect honey with a regu- 

 larity equal to the dairyman. — During the 

 perusal of a late publication, I have met 

 with a more particular account of this most 

 singular fact, and believing that the gene- 

 rality of your readers will be as much grati- 

 fied as I was by the perusal, I send it for 

 insertion in your next, if space can be spared, 

 and remain, A Subscriber. 



January 19th, 1843. 



Unparalleled and unique in the animal 

 kingdom as this history may appear, you 

 will scarcely deem the next I have to re- 

 late, less singular and less worthy of admi- 

 ration. That ants should have their milch 

 cattle, is as extraordinary as that they should 

 have slaves. Here, perhaps, you may again 

 feel a fit of incredulity shake you. But the 

 evidence for the fact I am now stating being 

 abundant and satisfactory, I flatter myself it 

 will not shake you long. 



The loves of the ants and the aphides, 

 (for these last are the kine in question) have 

 long been celebrated ; and that there is a 

 connection between them, you may, at any 

 time in the proper season, convince yourself; 

 for you will always find the former very 

 busy in those trees and plants in which the 

 latter abound; and if you examine more 

 closely, you will discover that their object 

 in thus attending upon them, is to obtain 

 the saccharine fluid, which may well be de- 

 nominated their milk, that they secrete. 



This fluid, which is scarcely inferior to 

 honey in sweetness, issues in limpid drops 

 from the abdomen of these insects, by two 

 setiform tubes, placed one on each side. 



Their sucker being inserted in the tender 

 bark, is without intermission employed in 

 absorbing the sap, which, after it has passed 

 through the system, they keep continually 

 discharging by these organs. When no ants 

 attend them, by a certain jerk of the body, 

 which takes place at regular intervals, they 

 ejaculate it to a distance; but when the ants 

 are at hand, watching the moment when the 

 aphides emit their fluid, they seize and suck 

 it down immediately. This, however, is the 

 least of their talents; for they absolutely 

 possess the art of making them yield it at 

 their pleasure ; or in other words, of milk- 

 ing them. On this occasion, their antenna? 

 (feelers) are their fingers; with these they 

 pat the abdomen of the aphis, on each side 

 alternately, moving them very busily; a lit- 

 tle drop of fluid immediately appears, which 

 the ant takes into its mouth, one species 

 (Myrmica rubra,) conducting it with its 

 antenna?, which are somewhat swelled at 

 the ends. When it has thus milked one, it 

 proceeds to another, and so on, till being sa- 

 tiated, it returns to the nest. 



Not only the aphides yield this repast to 

 the ants, but also the cocci, with whom they 

 have recourse to similar manosuvres, and 

 with equal success, only in this case the 

 movement of the antenna? over their body, 

 may be compared to the thrill of the finger 

 over the keys of a piano forte. 



But you are not arrived at the most sin- 

 gular part of this history — that ants make a 

 property of these cows, for the possession of 

 which they contend with great earnestness, 

 and use every means to keep them to them- 

 selves. Sometimes they seem to claim a 

 right to the aphides that inhabit the branches 

 of a tree or the stalks of a plant ; and, if 

 stranger ants attempt to share their trea- 

 sure with them, they endeavour to drive 

 them away, and may be seen running about 

 in a great bustle, and exhibiting every symp- 

 tom of solicitude and anger. Sometimes, to 

 rescue them from their rivals, they take their 

 aphides in their mouth ; they generally keep 

 guard around them, and when the branch is 

 conveniently situated, they have recourse to 

 an expedient still more effectual to keep off" 

 interlopers — they enclose it in a tube of 

 earth or other materials, and thus confine 

 them to a kind of paddock, near the nest, 

 and often communicating with it. 



The greatest cow-keeper of all the ants, 

 is one to be met with in most of our pas- 

 tures, (England) residing in hemispherical 

 formicaries, which are sometimes of consi- 

 derable diameter. I mean the yellow ant 

 of Gould. (F.Jlava.) This species, which 

 is not fond of roaming from home, and likes 

 to have all its conveniences within reach 



