92 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
fare, and Share any good thing they may meet 
with. Those which go abroad feed those who 
remain in the nest, and if they discover any 
stock of food, they inform the whole community. 
M. Huber having produced heat by means of a 
flambeau, in a certain part of an artificial for- 
micary, the ants that happened to be in that 
quarter, after enjoying it for a time, hastened to 
convey the welcome intelligence to their com- 
patriots, whom they even carried suspended on 
their jaws to the spot, till hundreds might be 
seen thus laden with their friends. 
What a striking example of disinterestedness 
do these insects, which have the general stigma 
of selfishness so unjustly attached to them, 
present, and how clearly does this injustice 
show us the folly of judging on superficial 
and imperfect grounds; let us not therefore 
condemn hastily any being that we fancy hor- 
rible and disgusting, but which on minute in- 
vestigation will generally appear more really 
beautiful than those preferred by our compa- 
ratively unrefined senses. But to return to the 
ants. They are susceptible of anger as well as 
love, even to fierceness. Providence has fur- 
nished them with formidable weapons. Two 
strong mandibles arm their mouth, with which 
