CHAPTER V. 



BEHA^^OUR TO RELATIONS. 



Me. GroIe, in his 'Fragments on Ethical Subjects,' 

 regards it as an evident necessity that no society can 

 exist without the sentiment of morality. ' Everyone,' 

 he says, ' who has either spoken or written on the sub- 

 ject, has agreed in considering this sentiment as ab- 

 solutely indispensable to the very existence of society. 

 Without the diffusion of a certain measure of this feel- 

 ing throughout all the members of the social union, 

 the caprices, the desires, and the passions of each 

 separate individual would render the maintenance of 

 any established communion impossible. Positive 

 morality, under some form or other, has existed in 

 every society of which the world has ever had ex- 

 perience.' 



If this be so, the question naturally arises whether 

 ants also are moral and accountable beings. They have 

 their desires, their passions, even their caprices. The 

 young are absolutely helpless. Their communities are 

 sometimes so numerous, that perhaps London and 

 Pekin are almost the only human cities which can 

 compare with them. Moreover, their nests are no mere 



