3770 Insects. 



he found it impossible to dislodge them. To diminish their numbers 

 he was in the habit of hanging against the wall a boiled sheep's liver, 

 which they speedily covered, and then plunging it into boiling water; 

 but even this wholesale destruction had very little apparent effect in 

 thinning their ranks. In the same vault there were also multitudes 

 of crickets (Gryllus domesticus) and black beetles [Blatta orientalis, 

 L.), in every stage of growth and variety of colour, from the deep 

 black to the pale albino ; all of which appeared to entertain the great- 

 est dread of these apparently insignificant creatures, retreating preci- 

 pitately when they found themselves in the vicinity of a track, while 

 several of the ants would immediately rush out of the line to chastise 

 their intrusion. 



It now occurred to Mr. Daniell that he might make the laborious 

 habits and fondness for animal food evinced by these ants serviceable 

 to himself in the preparation of skeletons. With this view he placed 

 some mice and small birds in boxes against the wall, but although 

 the ants immediately attacked them, so great was the heat of the oven 

 that the subjects were dried hard, and generally abandoned after the 

 brains had been eaten out. Several other attempts in different parts 

 of the cellar also failed, the skeletons being frequently destroyed by 

 the crickets and beetles after the ants had abandoned them, until 

 which time no other insect could approach without undergoing the 

 punishment of death. Mr. Daniell then determined to endeavour to 

 establish a colony in a cellar adjoining the oven and parallel with it, 

 in consequence of which proximity the wall gave out a certain degree 

 of warmth when the oven was heated. He first placed the most in- 

 viting food in the warmest corner, to which he had fitted a box with 

 holes in it on the side next the wall, large enough to admit the ants, 

 but not the larger insects ; and this failing to attract them, he caught 

 a great number from a piece ofliver placed as a trap, and shook them 

 into a box from which they had no means of escape, in which he 

 closed them with abundance of food, but after seeking in vain for an 

 outlet they congregated in one corner of the box and eventually died. 

 His next expedient was to catch them in great numbers and turn them 

 loose in the cellar ; and repeating this process for several evenings, he 

 had at length the satisfaction to see a track established extending from 

 a small hole in the wall to the box in which their food was deposited. 

 After some time another track was formed to another corner of the box 

 at right angles with the first ; and these tracks were never abandoned 

 while he continued to avail himself of their services, which he did not 

 cease to employ until he had completed by their means upwards of 



