122 
ANTS AND APHIDES. 
[Nature and Art, April 1, 1867. 
have known in Tette,*' I think I may say that they would 
regard with the same horror as ourselves a dastardly- 
attempt to make the savage an instrument of assassination, 
and will look on the reported murder of the Doctor with 
equal indignation ; but on this point I would refrain from 
dwelling till the expected letters of Dr. Kirk inform us of 
the details he has been able to collect. 
The career of Dr. Livingstone as a traveller and a 
philanthropist needs no eulogy from me, neither am I the 
man from whom it ought to be expected ; but as one who, 
for however short a time, has travelled with him, I may 
express my admiration of his many excellences, and pass as 
lightly as possible over the failings which served as foils 
to them. 
His energy and perseverance as an explorer could not fail 
to be appreciated by every one, and his self-reliance and 
power of adapting himself to new emergencies were shown 
when, having been led by false reports to dismiss from his 
expedition men who with heart and hand were helping him 
to their utmost, he applied himself energetically, if not 
altogether successfully, to the various tasks thus heedlessly 
devolving upon him. 
His life may be said to have been devoted to the cause of 
the native Africans, among whom he lived till he almost 
identified himself with them. Warm-hearted, generous, 
* Tette is the chief town on the Zambesi river, in Portuguese 
territory, nearly 300 miles from the sea. 
and self-sacrificing, his indignation at the wrongs they 
suffered led him not unfrequently to injustice towards the 
colonists, the majority of whom would look with abhorrence 
equal to his own on such outrages as individuals occasionally 
might be guilty of. As to his disregard of personal interest, 
it is sufficient to state that, in addition to the funds supplied 
him by the Government and by sympathizing friends, tho 
greater part of his own property was spent in the prosecu- 
tion of the course he considered it his duty to pursue. 
While there yet remains a ground for hope, I would fain, 
in common with the friends of science and philanthropy, 
indulge it to the utmost. If, as I much fear, the report is 
true, all privato differences must be merged in heartfelt 
sorrow for the great explorer. If not, no one will rejoice 
more heartily to welcome his safe arrival, or to meet him 
in England, than, 
Sir, yours truly, 
T. Baines, F.R.G.S., 
Late Artist of the Zambesi Expedition, 
20, Northumberland Street, West Strand, 
14th March, 1867. 
March 18th . — The detailed letters from Dr. Kirk have 
arrived, and state that the party, having crossed a marsh at 
the north end of Lake Nyassa, were passing through a 
wooded country when tho attack took place. Still later 
information from Dr. Kirk will be read at the meeting of 
the Royal Geographical Society on Monday next. 
EE VI 
Les Insectes. Par Louis Figuier. Ouvrage illustre de 605 
figures. Paris and London : Hachette & Cie. 1867. 
I F we glance at the animal world in its entirety, we find 
that its various members range themselves under five 
principal divisions, which are known to naturalists as sub- 
kingdoms. Beginning with the lowest, we find such forms as 
the sponge and infusorian animalcules, which possess little 
more in the shape of digestive organization than an extem- 
porized stomach; these, with some others, form the first sub- 
kingdom Protozoa. Then we find the polyps, sea-anemones, 
jelly-fishes, hydrte, and corals, forming the sub-kingdom 
Calenterata. Next in order we have those soft creatures, 
generally provided with an outer covering of shell ; these 
constitute the sub-kingdom Mollusca. The worms, spiders, 
leeches, centipedes, and insects belong to the sub-kingdom 
Annulosa. Lastly, we have quadrupeds, birds, fishes, and 
reptiles, which, being provided with a backbone made up of 
what anatomists call vertebrae, are styled Vertehrata. It is 
with the sub-kingdom Annulosa that we have to do in the 
present article. The creatures belonging to this section of 
the animal world are distinguished from all others by 
having the body divided less or more distinctly into a 
number of rings or segments, which are placed end to end. 
They comprise a number of sub-groups, called classes, which 
may readily be distinguished by well-marked features. It is 
to one of these classes we are about to introduce our 
readers, — that of Insecta, or insects, as they are generally 
styled. An insect may be defined to be a six-legged, air- 
breathing, ringed animal, having its body divided into three 
separate parts, head, chest, and belly, and being usually pro- 
vided with wings. This definition is, we believe, unimpeach- 
able, and having given it, we may therefore pass on to the 
particular divisions of the class in which the species forming 
the heading of this page hold their place. Insects are of 
two sorts, — those in which the mouth is made for suction 
and converted into a proboscis, and those in which the jaws 
and their corresponding parts are separate from each other, 
so as to admit of chewing and eating movements. Now the 
Aphides belong to the former, and the Ants to the latter ; 
the one coming under the order of Bugs ( Hemi/ptera ), and the 
pther to the tribe of Bees and Wasps (Hymenoptera). Having 
E WS. 
given these preliminary and somewhat dry, though neces- 
sary, particulars, we now come to the Ants and Aphides 
themselves. 
The study and pursuit of insects have from a very early 
period in the history of civilization possessed great fas- 
cinations for lovers of nature. The wonderfully complex 
construction of these creatures, their singular habits, their 
extraordinary varieties, their almost human intelligence, 
their remarkably arranged homes, their brilliantly coloured 
garments, their peculiar sounds, and, above all, their as- 
tounding metamorphoses in piassing from their juvenile to 
their mature condition, have given them an interest to the 
student of natural phenomena such as no other animals 
present. In no department of entomology are all these 
qualities of insects seen in a higher degree of perfection 
than in the group of bees and wasps, to which the singular 
little creatures we are about to describe belong. In this 
order we have numerous examples of the beautiful hues, 
strange habits, and remarkable instincts of the insect, and 
few of its members exemplify our remarks more fully than 
the ants ( Formicidce ). 
There are not many of our readers to whom the common 
ant ( Formica rufa) is not familiar. Who in his summer 
rambles through the fields has not fallen on an ant-hill — 
a little mound of earth rising from the level plain — a 
veritable subterranean city, full of life, and busy with the 
thousand labours of an industrious population ? Who has 
not seen the little, brown, active creatures running to and 
fro apparently in confused bustle, but really moving ac- 
cording to a system of rigid discipline that would do credit 
to a human populace ? Who has not watched their 
movements and wondered at their industry and ceaseless 
activity ? The ant is an insect of the gregarious type ; it 
lives in colonies,- and like the common bees and wasps 
differs from its fellow species in many particulars of organi- 
zation and mode of life. The reader who desires to follow 
out the subject should consult tho beautiful volume which 
has just been published, and on which we found this article. 
But we shall try and give a general account of the economy 
of the ant-hill in these pages. Ants, like most insects 
which live in colonies, are divided into three kinds, — males, 
females, and workers or neuters ; of these the two first are 
