458 INSECTS. 



It is impossible to contemplate the actions of such minute be. 

 ings, in whom not only all the parental affections subsist in at 

 full force as in the larger animals, but the social sympathies also 

 prevail in a much more extraordinary degree, without feelings of 

 wonder and admiration. The zeal with which the bee will devote 

 its life to the service of the community of which it forms a part 

 has long been known; but the ant is not inferior to the bee, either 

 rn courage or in patriotism ; and, moreover, bears testimony, by 

 unequivocal actions, of a degree of tenderness and affection, which 

 we can hardly bring ourselves to conceive could animate a being 

 of a condition so apparently inferior. Latreille, in the course of 

 his experiments, had deprived some ants of their antennae : their 

 distress was no doubt perceived and shared by their companions) 

 who caused a transparent liquor, which probably possessed some 

 healing properties, to flow from their own mouths, and with this 

 they anointed the wounds of the sufferers. Many traits of their 

 fondness, and tender care of their females, were witnessed by the 

 author ; they give the most remarkable proof of the permanence of 

 their affection when any of the impregnated females happen to die ; 

 in which case, five or six of her attendants remain with her for 

 many days, licking and caressing the body without intermission, 

 as if they hoped to recal her to life by their caresses. Many 

 anecdotes are related by M. Huber of their readiness to assist one 

 another, and of their manifesting a desire that their companioni 

 should participate in the advantages, and enjoyments that occurred 

 to themselves. 



While ants thus enjoy all the advantages of a state of civiliza. 

 tion, they are not exempt from the passions that disturb domestic 

 peace, and the evils that interrupt the harmony of social life. Can 

 it be that war, with its attendant calamities, is the necessary con- 

 comitant of society ; and must it also be the scourge of communi. 

 ties among insects, as well as among beings who pride themselves 

 in such superior endowments? It is but too true that the history of 

 ants affords no exception to this apparent connexion of things. 

 The almost Utopian picture of a republic, which the preceding 

 accounts exhibit, is deformed by features of ferocity which blend 

 themselves with the estimable qualities we have described. In the 

 hostilities of animals we generally find a mixture of stratagem and 

 of force ; and they consist almost wholly in occasional struggles 



