9 



says they are, and he has seen an ant helped out from under a stone 

 by the united efforts of its friends, who pulled it out by hauling at 

 its legs, and he has watched a disconsolate mourning ant unearth 

 the recently interred body of a deceased relative ; but there seems 

 some httle doubt whether that was not for the purpose of eating 

 him. Sir John Lubbock, intoxicated a number of ants with spirits, 

 and found their friends from the same nest generally carried off 

 their insensible relatives, but threw all strangers into a little ditch 

 of water. They also treated a few friendly ants to a cold douch, but 

 eventually rescued them on discovering their mistake, but whether 

 this was done on " blue ribbon " principles as a punishment, or 

 not, we are unable to say. Ants dipped in water were nsually quite 

 neglected ; those immersed in treacle or honey were invariably 

 licked dry ; now this is suspicious, and places our ant's principles in 

 a painfully doubtful light. On the whole Sir John comes to the 

 conclusion that the emotion of dislike is certainly stronger than that 

 of friendship in the ant, for while any average ant is always certain 

 to attack a stranger, he is by no means so sure to assist a friend, 

 unless indeed there is something to be got out of him. The principal 

 food of the ants is insects, of which they consume large quantities; 

 indeed, Forel, when he was observing a slave nest, found that 28 

 dead insects per minute were brought in, which amounts to 100,000 

 insects a day, destroyed by this one nest. Darwin says this is one 

 agency by which plants are protected from insects, which would 

 otherwise infest them and consume their juices. When we consider 

 the countless millions of ants which exist, we can form some idea 

 of the myriads of insects thus destroyed. Ants, too, are very fond 

 of honey and honey dew, or any sweet substance, and Darwin, with 

 his usual acuteness, has pointed out the various expedients by which 

 plants are protected from their ravages which would otherwise leave 

 but little honey for the bees. Sir John alludes to several of these 

 obstacles, such as inverted hairs on the footstalks of plants, viscid 

 and acrid secretions, downturned and slippery flowers, &c.; while 

 water plants, which do not need the same proteotion, are destitute 

 of such aids. There has been much controversy as to whether ants 

 store up grain for winter use. It is almost certain no English ants 

 do so ; but careful foreign observers have seen ants harvesting rice 

 and other grain ; now as they cannot masticate any hard substance, 

 it is supposed they keep the grain until it germinates, and then suck 

 the sweet juices produced by the natural conversion of starch into 

 sugar which takes place at that time. They even check any super- 

 abundant germination by nipping oft' the points of the young shoots. 

 Apropos of food, it is a curious fact that the same eggs can be 

 caused to develope into either males, females, or neuters, according 

 to the kind of food supplied to the larvae or grubs, As to the intelli- 



