ANTS AND THEIR HELPLESS CHILDREN. 269 
CHAPTER XII.* 
INTELLIGENT INSECTS WITH HELPLESS CHILDREN 
AS ILLUSTRATED BY THE ANTS. 
"So when the emmets, an industrious train, 
Embodied, rob some golden heap of grain, 
Studious, ere stormy winter frowns, to lay 
Safe in their darksome cells the treasured prey, 
In one long track the dusky legions lead 
Their prize in triumph through the verdant mead, 
Here, bending with the load, a panting throng, 
With force conjoined, heave some huge grain along, 
Some lash the stragglers to the task assigned, 
Some to their ranks the bands that lag behind ; 
They crowd the peopled path in thick array, 
Glow at the work, and darken all the way." 
VIRGIL. 
DARE engage," said the King of 
Brobdingnag, as he took Gulliver 
on the palm of his right hand and 
stroked him gently, while his learned 
men examined this strange pigmy 
through their magnifying glasses, 
" I dare engage that these diminu- 
tive creatures have their titles and 
distinctions of honour ; they con- 
trive little nests and burrows which 
they call houses and cities ; they 
make a figure and dress in equi- 
page ; they love, they fight, they 
dispute, they cheat, they betray." 
* Most of the facts in this chapter which are not to be found in 
the standard works of Huber and Gould, have been taken from the 
works of Forel, M c Cook, Belt, and Moggridge, and from the scientific 
papers published by Sir J. Lubbock. 
