KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



G7 



the one, if continued, would not have 

 reached above half way of the height of the 

 other. An experienced ant arriving at the 

 spot seemed struck with the defect, and 

 immediately destroyed the lower ceiling, 

 built up the wall to the proper height, and 

 formed a new ceiling with the materials of 

 the former. 



The food which ants appear to relish above 

 all others, is an exudation from the bodies 

 of several species of aphis, insects which 

 abound on the plants in the vicinity of ant- 

 hills. This species of honey is absorbed 

 with great avidity by the ants, and appa- 

 rently without the least detriment to the 

 insect that yields it. This fact had already 

 been noticed by Boissier de Sauvages ; but 

 several very interesting particulars, as to the 

 mode in which this excretion is procured, 

 have been brought to light by M. Huber. 

 He informs us, that the liquor is voluntarily 

 given out by the aphis, when solicited to do 

 so by the ant, who, for that purpose, strikes 

 it gently, but repeatedly, with its antennas, 

 using the same motions as it does when ca- 

 ressing its young. He is led to believe, 

 from observation, that the aphis retains this 

 liquor for a longer time when the ants are 

 not at hand to receive it. A single aphis is 

 sufficient to supply in this way many ants 

 with a plentiful meal. Even those among 

 them who had acquired wings, and could 

 therefore have easily escaped from the ants, 

 if they had been so disposed, yielded this 

 honey as freely as the others, and with as 

 little appearance of fear or constraint. 



Most insects become torpid when the 

 temperature is much reduced. When it 

 approaches the freezing point, they fall into 

 a deep lethargy, and in that state require no 

 food. Ants present a remarkable exception 

 to this rule ; for they are not benumbed till 

 the thermometer has sunk to 27 degrees of 

 Fahrenheit, or 5 degrees below the freezing 

 point. They therefore have need of a sup- 

 ply of provisions during the greatest part of 

 the winter ; although it is true that they are 

 satisfied with much less than in summer. 

 Their principal resource, however, under 

 these circumstances, is still the same, namely, 

 the honey of the aphis ; which natural secre- 

 tion appears to be expressly designed for the 

 subsistence of ants. What confirms this 

 view of the intentions of nature is, that the 

 aphis becomes torpid at precisely the same 

 temperature as the ant ; a coincidence which 

 it is hardly possible to attribute to mere 

 chance. The winter haunts of the aphis, 

 which are chiefly the roots of trees and 

 shrubs, are well known to their pursuers ; 

 and when the cold is not excessive they 

 regularly go out to seek their accustomed 

 supply from these insects. Some species of 

 ants have even sufficient foresight to obviate 



the necessity of these journeys ; they bring 

 these animals to their own nest, where they 

 lodge them near the vegetables on which they 

 feed." The domestic ants, meantime, pre- 

 vent them from stirring out, guarding them 

 with great care, and defending them with as 

 much zeal as they do their own young. 



The accounts given of ants inhabiting 

 other climates sufficiently show what formi- 

 dable power they acquire when the efforts 

 of numbers are combined. M. Malonet 

 mentions, in his account of his travels 

 through the forests of Guyana, his arriving 

 at a savannah, extending in a level plain 

 beyond the visible horizon, and in which he 

 beheld a structure that appeared to have 

 been raised by human industry. M. de 

 Prefontain, who accompanied him in the ex- 

 pedition, informed him that it was an ant- 

 hill, which they could not approach without 

 danger of being devoured. They passed 

 some of the paths frequented by the laborers, 

 which belonged to a very large species of 

 black ants. The nest they had constructed, 

 which had the form of a truncated pyramid, 

 appeared to be from fifteen to twenty feet in 

 height, on a base of thirty or forty feet. 

 He was told that when the new settlers, in 

 their attempts to clear the country, hap- 

 pened to meet with any of these fortresses, 

 they were obliged to abandon the spot, 

 unless they could muster sufficient forces to 

 lay regular siege to the enemy. This they 

 did by digging a circular trench all round 

 the nest, and filling it with a large quantity 

 of dried wood, to the whole of which they 

 set fire at the same time, by lighting it in 

 different parts all round the circumference. 

 While the entrenchment is blazing, the edi- 

 fice 'may be destroyed by firing at it with 

 cannon ; and the ants being by this means 

 dispersed, have no avenue for escape, except 

 through the flames, in which they perish. 

 The narrations of Mr. Smeathman (Phil. 

 Tran. vol. lxxi, p. 139), relative to the white 

 ant of Africa, are also calculated to raise our 

 ideas of the magnitude of these republics of 

 insects, which much surpass the largest em- 

 pire in the numbers of their population. 



We are in possession of a great many of 

 these interesting particulars ; and we shall 

 have pleasure in introducing them from time 

 to time in the Journal. We trust our 

 juvenile readers, whose names are becoming 

 " legion," will not fail to profit largely by a 

 careful consideration of these and similar 

 remarkable facts. 



The Way to Fame is strewn with thorns, 

 every inch of the road we travel. We go through 

 very much, to gain that which when attained is 

 hardly worth the having. No man ever yet " got 

 fat " upon Fame ! 



