300 THE ANT. 



question, whether the life of one bee be not dearly pur- 

 chased by that of a dozen wasps. 



The ant claims no secondary rank in the number of the 

 enemies of the bees ; but in regard to the bees themselves, 

 no fear whatever need be entertained for their safety. The 

 ants are very capable of gratifying their appetite for the melli- 

 fluous stores of the hive, but they appear to know to what 

 they would expose themselves, were they to proceed to the 

 pillage of a well-peopled hive. We have often admired the 

 choice, which certain ants have made of the place in which 

 they have established themselves, in comparison to that which 

 they might have chosen, and which combined within itself 

 greater advantages, than any other, that might have been 

 offered to them. On opening the shutters of my glassed hives, 

 I have often found hundreds of ants, which had established 

 themselves between the shutters and the panes of glass ; and 

 they had even transported thither their eggs, their larvae, and 

 their nymphs, the number of which equalled, and sometimes 

 surpassed that of the ants themselves. Where in the whole 

 garden could they have found a place in which they could 

 enjoy so high and regular a degree of heat ? But at the same 

 time, not an ant was to be seen in the inside of those hives, 

 which had so many of them on the outside, although they 

 could have found a number of crevices by which they could 

 have entered ; and which, no doubt, they possessed every 

 disposition to do, if the honey had not been so vigorously 

 protected. When, however, we have left any hives for a 

 few hours in the garden, the bees of which have died, the 

 ants then, who have nothing to fear, hesitated not instantly 

 to regale themselves with the honey, which had remained in 

 it ; but we never witnessed that they offered any annoyance 

 to those bees, which belonged to a well-peopled hive. 



The toad is a ravenous enemy of the bee, but it seldom 

 happens that the ugly animal can carry on his ravages 

 without immediate detection ; yet, there are particular occa- 



