3^8 



FIRST LESSONS IN ZOOLOGY 



Other social animals. — Besides bees, ants, and wasps 

 there are many other animals which hve together in 

 more or less helpful association with each other. The 

 beavers, which unite to build a dam in order to make a 

 pond in M'hich to build their houses; the prairie-dogs, 

 which live in large ' ' towns ' ' ; the bands of crows that 

 post sentinels to watch for enemies while the others 

 feed ; the birds which migrate in great flocks following a 

 few leaders; and the wolves, which hunt together in bands 

 and are thus able to attack and pull down animals too 

 large to be overcome by a single individual, are all 

 examples of animals which display a certain degree of 

 mutual aid. Let each pupil try to discover others among 

 the animals familiar to him. 



For detailed accounts of the honey-bee see Cowan's 

 "Natural History of the Honey-bee," or Cook's "Bee- 

 keepers' Guide," or Cheshire's " Bees and Bee-keepmg." 

 Maeterlinck's " The Life of a I^ee " is most interesting. 

 For a good account of the wasps and hornets see Orme- 

 rod's " British Social 'VVasps." " Ants and their Waj-s," 

 by W. F. White, is good. For an interesting account of 

 experiments to reveal the intelligence of ants, bees, and 

 wasps, see Lubbock's " Ants, Bees, and 'Wasps." 'W. M. 

 Wheeler has published in various numbers of the " Ameri- 

 can Naturalist " of 1902 accounts of his interesting studies 

 on ants. 



