THE RED ANT. 
193 
of aphides , or plant lice, of a white, fluffy sort, known to 
gardeners as “ mealy bug.” These are their sheep. 
But they keep cows too, and it was watching the 
management of these that finally changed all my feelings 
towards the Red Ant. For I am a collector of butter- 
flies, and the finest breed of kine is the larva, or caterpillar, 
of the largest and most dazzling of all our “ Blues.” 
This caterpillar grows to more than an inch in length 
and has on its back a gland that yields a certain liquid, 
which you may call honey, if you please, or milk. For 
our present purpose let it be milk. It is palatable and 
nutritious and will sustain the life of a Red Ant with- 
out any other food. The little animal that yields it is 
quiet, docile and easily domesticated. What wonder that 
it is held in high esteem ! 
The tree on which it is found is occupied more than 
most trees by great colonies of Red Ants, and wherever 
they find a cow, they take possession of it. They do not 
inclose it, but let it graze at will and appoint guards 
over it, which never leave it by night or day and guard it 
from every danger. If you take it away, they will go 
with it and stay where you put it. At short intervals all 
through the day they milk it, with a skill and gentleness 
O 
