KATURAL HISTORY. 
243 
FORMIC K.—The A N T, 
OT to impofe upon our readers tliofe fa- 
bles which have been related of this remar- 
kable inieCl, we fliall conlrne ourfelves to the 
mod authentic accounts, and to our own ob- 
fervations in what we {hall brielly mention 
rerpefting the ant. ' Sanclorius fays, when 
the ants carry any corn to their habitations, 
they carry it, exaftly in form and intention, 
as they do bits of wood, for the condruc- 
tion of their dwellings merely. For whr.t 
purpofe iliould they provide corn for the win- 
ter, when they pals that feafon without mo- 
tion ? But, from what we have lately ob- 
ferved ourfelves, we rather imagine this er- 
ror arol'e from fome perfons havipg feen 
them dragging a number of their anrelias, 
when they have been removed, by a hoe cr 
fpade, again to their repofitories ; for ihefj 
anrelias are exaclly of the lize and colour of .1 
grain of wlieat. 'i'hc great prudence ants dif- 
cover, is in (lieltering ihcmfelves from cold, 
which, wlien fevere, almoll deprives them 
of motion. 
At the beginning of March, if the weather 
be warm, they go ' abroad in i'carch of nou- 
rillnnent. If corn be thrown to ants, ti'.c/ 
remove it from place to place, by fome 
dragging, others lifting, and two or three 
■niore puflnng forward, the weighty mafle'-. 
A grain 
