49 



%\\ tjje gjaKts of gnte. 



r»v Sie John Lubbock, Bart., F.R.S., M.P., D.C.L., 



Ticc-Chauccllor of the University of London. 

 {Head before the Society at Warminster, 23rd August, 1877.) 



I^OUR excellent secretary, Mr. Smith, has asked me to read a 

 ?° paper this evening on the habits of ants, and has further 

 suggested that instead of occupying the time thus placed 

 at my disposal wholly with the details of the observations which I 

 have made since my last paper in the Linnean Journal, I should 

 begin with some general remarks on the whole subject. 



I have kept altogether nearly thirty species of ants in captivity | 

 and have found little difficulty in preserving them in good health. 

 One of my present nests I have had since the year 1874, and it is 

 still in perfect vigour. As regards the longevity of individual ants, 

 this nest still contains the same two queens as when I first took it. 1 

 They must therefore be at least four years old. Some of the workers 

 too have probably lived as long. I have also several workers which 

 I have kept under observation since 1875. 



From my own observations I have been able to confirm to a great 

 extent the remarkable statements made by previous observers with 

 reference to these interesting insects. Nothing which has been said 

 with reference to their architectural skill, their industry, their atten- 

 tion to their young, their remarkable organization, their possession 

 o£ domestic animals, and even the institution of slavery, has been 

 exaggerated. I have over and over again watched their behaviour 

 to the aphides, which they keep as cows, and from which fchey derive 

 no unimportant portion of their sustenance, visiting them amongst 

 the herbage and following them even up to the summit of high trees ; 

 in other cases keeping them in their nests, and selecting a collecting 

 species which feed upon the roots of grasses ; nay, the ants keep these 

 insects throughout the winter, in a torpid condition, though they 



1 This is still true, July, 1878. 

 VOL. XVIII. — NO. LII. E 



