BIOLOGIC RELATIONS BETWEEN PLANTS AND ANTS. 455 



that assures the free expansion of the species; a progressive expansion 

 that must soon find its limits in the new struggle that species, triumph- 

 ing by their union, must make against neighboring species. 



What horizons does the study of ants open to the naturalist! The 

 investigation of their relations to plants is capable of giving to those 

 who undertake it the most lively pleasure that the naturalist can enjoy. 

 Those who have succeeded in raising this little corner of nature's veil 

 wid acknowledge that they owe the ants a debt of gratitude. And if 

 I have succeeded, by this somewhat dry exposition, in securing your 

 kind attention, is it not to these little creatures that I owe it i 



