134 
ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE. 
The most formidable of all is the great red ant. or Dimiya. 
It is particularly abundant in gardens and on fruit-trees ; it 
constructs its dwellings by gluing the leaves of such species as 
are suitable from their shape and pliancy into hollow balls, and 
these it lines with a kind of transparent paper, like that manu- 
factured by the wasp. 1 have watched them at the interesting 
operation of forming these dwellings ; — a line of ants standing 
on the edge of one leaf bring another into contact with it, and 
hold both together with their mandibles till their companions 
within attach them firmly by means of their adhesive paper, the 
assistants outside moving along as the work proceeds. If it be 
necessary to draw closer a leaf too distant to be laid hold of by 
the immediate workers, they form a chain by depending one 
from the other till the object is reached, when it is at length 
brought into contact, and made fast by cement. 
I shall now pass on to the remarkable observation com- 
municated to Kirby by Colonel Sykes, F.R.S., and which 
is thus narrated by Kirby in his 6 History, Habits, and 
Instincts of Animals : 5 — 
"When resident at Poona, the dessert, consisting of fruits, 
cakes, and various preserves, always remained upon a small side 
table, in a verandah of the dining-room. To guard against 
inroads, the legs of the table were immersed in four basins filled 
with water; it was removed an inch from the wall, and, to 
keep off dust from open windows, was covered with a tablecloth. 
At first the ants did not attempt to cross the water, but as the 
strait was very narrow, from an inch to an inch and a half, and 
the sweets very tempting, they appear, at length, to have braved 
all risks, to have committed themselves to the deep, to have 
scrambled across the channel, and to have reached the objects 
of their desires, for hundreds were found every morning revelling 
in enjoyment : daily vengeance was executed upon them with- 
out lessening their numbers ; at last the legs of the table were 
painted, just above the water, with a circle of turpentine. This 
at first seemed to prove an effectual barrier, and for some days 
the sweets were unmolested, after which tlmy were again at- 
tacked by these resolute plunderers ; but how they got at 
them seemed totally unaccountable, till Colonel Sykes, who often 
passed the table, was surprised to see an ant drop from the wall, 
about a foot above the table, upon the cloth that covered it ; 
another and another succeeded. So that though the turpentine 
and the distance from the wall appeared effectual barriers, still 
