HUBER, KIRBY AND SPENCE. 155 
reception of its eggs a pellet of dung too heavy for it 
to move, ‘repaired to an adjoining heap and soon re- 
turned with three of his companions. All four now 
applied their united strength to the pellet, and at 
length succeeded in pushing it out, which being done, 
the three assistant Beetles left the spot and returned 
to their own quarters.’ This observation rests on the 
authority of an anonymous German artist ; and though 
we are assured that he was a ‘man of strict veracity,’ 
Tam not aware that any similar fact has been recorded 
by any other observer. I am by no means satisfied 
that his explanation of what took place is correct. M. 
Fabre,' in his interesting observations, places the facts 
in a very different light. 
The second case is related by Kalm, on the authority 
of Dr. Franklin, but again does not seem to me to justify 
the conclusions drawn from it by Messrs. Kirby and 
Spence. Dr. Franklin having found a number of ants 
in a jar of treacle, shook them out and suspended the 
jar ‘ by a string from the ceiling. By chance one ant 
remained, which, after eating its fill, with some diffi- 
culty found its way up the string, and, thence reaching 
the ceiling, escaped by the wall to its nest. In less 
than half an hour a great company of ants sallied out 
of their hole, climbing the ceiling, crept along the 
string into the pot and began to eat again; this they 
eontinued until the treacle was all consumed, one 
swarm running up the string while another passed 
' Souvenirs Entomologiques. 
