AN AUNT JANE STORY. 



SOME CURIOUS INSECTS. 

 PART L 



Howard and Edith -had been busy all 

 the morning helping Aunt Jane smoke 

 the house plants. The rose bushes were 

 covered with little green creatures, which 

 must be destroyed, or there would be no 

 roses for Easter. To reward them for 

 their efficient help, Aunt Jane promised 

 to give them a little talk about insects 

 that very evening. 



It was scarcely dark before all the chil- 

 dren were gathered in the library. 



''Aunt Jane," cried Bird, ''do begin with 

 the bee. Howard says it is too common 

 • — that you will only talk about wonder- 

 ful insects tonight." "That was my in- 

 tention," Aunt Jane replied, "but our 

 commonest insects are curious, so it may 

 not be amiss to begin with some of 

 them. Now, what do you all consider 

 curious about the bee?" 



"His sting," cried John, "and the way 

 he can poison one with it." 



"His skill as a geometrician," said 

 Howard ; "I don't know of another insect 

 with such a head on him as the bee," 



"I think the bee is a brave little knight, 

 all clad in armor of gold and jet," ex- 

 claimed Alice. 



"The pollen bags are 'too cute' for 

 anything," chimed in Bird. 



"But it seems to me," responded Aunt 

 Jane, "that the bee is most wonderful in 

 that he is a chemist of such rare skill, 

 that the nicest scientist can not analyze 

 the honey so as to tell how much is due 

 to the bee, and how much to the clover." 



"Is not the ant quite as remarkable as 

 the bee?" Alice inquired. 



"Her architectural skill is certainly 

 very great," was the response. 



"It has been estimated that the ant, if 

 allowance be made for difference in size, 

 surpasses man in architectural achieve- 



ments, and its lodging houses dwarf the 

 pyramids. The white ants of Siam con- 

 struct hills which serve as houses, which 

 are sometimes fifteen feet high, and 

 thirty or forty feet in diameter. Often 

 upper chambers are made in the tops of 

 trees, by running tunnels from the base 

 of the ant hills to the tree top, where the 

 dead boughs are enclosed with the plas- 

 ter." 



"Why do they make the upstairs in the 

 tree top, Auntie?" 



"The aerial chambers are for purposes 

 of concealment, while the ants work upon 

 the dead boughs. But the most remark- 

 able thing about ants is their social 

 organization. They live in large com- 

 munities, have houses, barns, yards and 

 fields; they keep domestic animals, have 

 pets, own slaves, entertain guests, engage 

 in amusements and pursue various occu- 

 pations such as engineering, building, 

 agriculture, gardening, hunting, and 

 fighting." 



"Dear me," cried John ; "the next time 

 I meet an ant I'll take off my hat to him. 

 Who would have thought he was such a 

 business fellow?" 



"How do agricultural ants farm?" 

 Alice inquired. 



"They keep patches of rice free from 

 weeds, harvest the grain, put it in their 

 barns, and husk it for tlie sake of the 

 oily substance which they lick off the 

 grain." 



"You were in fun when you said ants 

 keep domestic animals?" 



"By no means. It may be truthfully 

 asserted that they keep cows. There is 

 a variety of aphides having two small 

 tubes on the under side of the body 

 which exude tiny drops of sticky sweet 

 fluid, which ants, catch as it falls and eat. 



