him any more. It is strange beyond comprehension that so manifest 

 a humbug as the ant has been able to fool so many nations, and 

 keep it up so many ages without being found out." 



There is no doubt considerable truth in this humourous descrip- 

 tion, and individual ants certainly are sometimes, according to Sir 

 John Lubbock's observations, smgularly stupid in finding their way 

 home ; they nevertheless in their collective social capacity exhibit 

 wonderful intelligence. Ants, as most of you know, belong to the 

 Hymenopterous insects, that is to say, the same class as bees, wasps, 

 and hornets, and possess, like them, four membranous wings, the 

 lady members alone possess a sting. They have also a much larger 

 jaw than the males. There are three descriptions of ants, males, 

 females, and neuters ; these latter are really undeveloped females, 

 and do all the hard work of the community, they fetch and carry, 

 tend the young, provide food, and even do all the fighting ; it would 

 alriT^st PCRm as though thosr lif,t1p PVPt'ttnrcF' bad succeeded better 

 lliMii ih.'ir sisters ..f ;i lii-jli-r "i -j;! iii/;i l h .n. ;iii.l li;i.l h.-Mih llv artniiie'l 

 1,.. ■■ W,,i,...i,--^ Ki-lil,>.--' Ani^' iiiHUrgo ;, r..^iih,|- uieU lii. .i'(;.lK.sis. 



iiiough when they beourne sLeady uiaiTied Jjeuple, wilh ti iamily tv 

 support, the ladies very judiciously lay aside their wings, and decide 

 to soar no more ; the spinster ants (no fun is intended) are not 

 provided with wings. Every one has noticed the little wingless 

 ants rushing about with small oval white bodies in their mouths ; 

 these are the so-called " ant's eggs," so dear to the young canary 

 and nightingale, they are really not eggs at all, but the larvae 

 or grub of the ant, and more nearly resembling babies than eggs ; 

 they are carefully tended and fed by the neuters, who press the food 

 out of their own mouths into theirs, and on fine days these careful 

 nurses carry their charges out into the air and sunshine, but hasten 

 with them indoors if it becomes cold or wet- Sir John Lubbock 

 says they carefully sort them according to age and size. When the 

 mature ants emerge from their cocoons these same indefatigable 

 workers are at hand to assist them out of their envelopes and wraps, 

 to unfold their legs and smooth out their wings, and otherwise 

 assist at their first toilet ; indeed many of their interesting yomig 

 charges would die were it not for this assistance. Then when the 

 impeding wrappers are finally removed, they are piled, with real 

 spinster precision, in a heap outside the nest. There exists con- 

 siderable misapprehension as to the length of time ants live, and 

 their existence has been usually thought to be a very short one. 

 Sir John Lubbock has, however, had ants which have been his 

 pensioners for eight or ten years. His device for recognizing indivi- 

 duals is ingenious, he regales them with a dainty feast of honey, to 



