Hillside. 159 



of the suspicious matter brought on board, when it was found 

 that the floating substance was a mass of winged ants. The 

 report states that the living mass was about five or six miles 

 long, eight or ten feet broad, and six inches thick. 



The social system of ants has won the admiration of 

 scientific men, who, on account of their wonderful intelli- 

 gence, have placed them, in company with bees, very high 

 in the scale of animal understanding. Lubbock is of opinion 

 that the ant ranks next to man in the scale of intelligence, 

 and when we consider their social economy, we must own 

 that he does not err. From the earliest times man has 

 recognised their superior development in this direction, and 

 we need only refer to king Solomon's advice : " Go to the 

 ant, thou sluggard ; consider her ways, and be wise," to re- 

 mind ourselves that the wisest of men have thought their 

 industry and method worthy of praise and emulation even 

 by the human race. Their intelligence in communicating 

 with each other, the excellence of their social relations, the 

 self-abnegation of the individual for the welfare of the state, 

 make their society an ideal commonwealth. To them the 

 common weal is everything ; individual passions and attach- 

 ments are unknown. Truly we may agree with Lubbock 

 when he writes : " When we consider the habits of ants, 

 their social relations, their large communities and elaborate 

 habitations, their roadways, their possession of domestic 

 animals, and even, in some cases, of slaves, it must be 

 admitted that they have a fair claim to rank next to man 

 in the scale of intelligence." 



That ants can communicate with each other we can prove 

 by experiment. Let us kill one of these crawling over the 

 path. You notice how regularly the ants go along in definite 



