Ants. 21 



scenes which he had witnessed on the surface of ant 

 hills, and which, he says, " I dare not qualify with 

 the title gymnastic, although they bear a close re- 

 semblance to scenes of that kind." The ants raised 

 themselves on their hind legs, caressed one another 

 with their antennae, engaged in mock combats, and 

 almost seemed to be playing at "hide and seek." 

 Forel entirely confirms Huber's statements, though 

 he was at first incredulous. 



8. Lastly, I may observe that ants are very 

 cleanly animals, and assist one another in this re- 

 spect. I have often seen them licking one another. 

 Those, moreover, which I painted for facility of 

 recognition were gradually cleaned by their friends. 



Though ants have not influenced the present 

 condition of the vegetable kingdom to the same 

 extent as bees, yet they also have had a very 

 considerable effect upon it in many ways. 



Our European ants do not strip plants of their 

 leaves. In the tropics, on the contrary, some 

 species do much damage in this manner. 



9. There are, of course, many cases in which the 

 action of ants is very beneficial to plants. They 

 kill off a great number of small caterpillars and 

 other insects. Forel found in one large nest that 

 more than 28 dead insects were brought in per 

 minute, which would give during the period of 

 greatest energy more than 100,000 insects destroyed 

 in a day by the inhabitants of one nest alone. 



