SOCIAL MATERNITY. 



305 



species affords a striking parallel to those often recorded of 

 cats, tigers, and bears, when robbed of their young. To put 

 her affection to the test, he threw her into the pit of a large 

 ant-lion, in the sand. The fierce creature seized her bag, when 

 she struggled till its fastening gave way. She then regained it 

 with her jaws, but by superior strength he pulled it into the 

 sand, into which, rather than forsake her treasure, she suffered 

 herself to be dragged also. Bonnet forced her from it, but, 

 though repeatedly pulled away, she would not leave the spot. 

 Many other species of the spider race have shown themselves 

 scarcely inferior in maternal attachment. 



Now with reference to ants, as well as social bees and social 

 wasps, we must here notice, that the maternal instincts and 

 affections reign paramount, through life, in the working popu- 

 lation of the ant-hill and the hive, with which, in fact, love of 

 their young forms the very mainspring of activity. 



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