34 ANTS FED BY APHIDES. 



intense cold, but when the season is not severe, the depth of 

 their nest guards them from the effects of frost. They do not 

 lose their activity unless the temperature be reduced to the 

 second degree of Reaumur below freezing point. I have occa- 

 sionally seen them walking upon the snow, engaged in their 

 customary vocations. In so reduced a temperature they would 

 be exposed to the horrors of famine, were they not supplied 

 with food by the Pucerons. By an admirable concurrence of 

 circumstances, which we cannot attribute to accident, these 

 Insects become torpid at exactly the same degree of cold as 

 those to which they are thus useful, and recover from this 

 state also at the same time, so that the Ants always find them 

 when they need them." We see from this that the providing 

 instinct is not bestowed where a substitute is given. 



When we say the providing instinct is not given, we must 

 limit the observation to the business of storing grain for winter's 

 want. Though they do not this, they sometimes do as much 

 or more. What say you to the habit of keeping and tending 

 infant herds with a view to future use ? At all events, through 

 a prospective instinct, " they will sometimes (says Huber) col- 

 lect the eggs of Aphides, deposit them in their own nests, guard 

 them with the greatest care, till evolved, and then, as we pasture 

 milch kine, continue to keep an eye over them for the delicious 

 nutriment they afford. Those Ants which do not know how 

 thus to assemble them, are, at least, acquainted with their re- 

 sorts. They follow them to the base of the trees and branches 

 of the shrubs they are used to frequent, and at the beginning 

 of frost pursue along the hedges the paths which lead to their 

 retreat. As soon as the Ants recover from their torpor, in- 

 duced by severe cold, they venture forth to procure their food. 

 The honied aliment, thus collected and swallowed, is on their 

 return home equally distributed among their companions." 

 The Ant figured in our story, and prefigured in our vignette, 

 is one of that large species before spoken of, popularly known 

 by the different names of Pismire, Wood, Hill, and Horse 



