40 



PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 



bably different from those of a cold one ; — so that his words, 

 as commonly interpreted, may be perfectly correct and con- 

 sistent with nature, and yet be not at all applicable to the 

 species that are indigenous to Europe. But I think, if 

 Solomon's words are properly considered, it will be found 

 that this interpretation has been fathered upon them, rather 

 than fairly deduced from them. He does not affirm that the 

 ant, which he proposes to his sluggard as an example, laid up 

 in her magazines stores of grain : " Go to the ant, thou slug- 

 gard, consider her ways and be wise ; which, having neither 

 captain, overseer, nor ruler, prepares her bread in the summer, 

 and gathers her food in the harvest." These words may 

 very well be interpreted simply to mean, that the ant, with 

 commendable prudence and foresight, makes use of the proper 

 seasons to collect a supply of provision sufficient for her 

 purposes. There is not a word in them implying that she 

 stores up grain or other provision. She prepares her bread, 

 and gathers her food, — namely, such food as is suited to her, 

 — in summer and harvest, — that is, when it is most plen- 

 tiful, — and thus shows her wisdom and prudence by using 

 the advantages offered to her. The words thus interpreted, 

 which they may be without any violence, will apply to 

 our European species as well as to those that are not indi- 

 genous. 



I shall now bid farewell to the ancients, and proceed to lay 

 before you what the observations of modern authors have 

 enabled me to add to the history of ants : — the principal of 

 these are Leeuwenhoek, Swammerdam (who was the first 

 that had recourse to artificial means for observing their 

 proceedings), Linne, Bonnet, and especially the illustrious 

 Swedish entomologist De Geer. Gould also, who, though no 

 systematical naturalist, was a man of sense and observation, 

 has thrown great light upon the history of ants, and antici- 

 pated several of what are accounted the discoveries of more 

 modern writers on this subject. 1 Latreille's Natural History 



1 M. P. Huber, in the account which, in imitation of De Geer, he has given 

 of the discoveries made by his predecessors in the history of ants, having passed 

 without notice, probably ignorant of the existence of such a writer, those of ouf 

 intelligent countryman Gould, I shall here give a short analysis of them ; from 



