The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1882-06-14
affairs like a human mother.

med, but 1t is now ascertained that there
are certain species of ants which actually
have this custom, and two, at least, of
these species live in Palestine. Such is
the custom of the agricultural ants of
Texas. Not only do these ants lay up
their .grain for future use, but it would
seem that they actually raise 1t. The
researches of McCook prove that, if they
do not absolutely plant the seed, they
certainly control and encourage its
growth, suffering that, and that only, to
grow upon the enclosures reserved for
their nests. The ants will not permit a
single spire of any other grass to remain
a day in the vicinity of the circular row
of ant-rice which may be observed around
their nests, and which appears in Texas
about the 1st of November.
With regard to the architecture of the
harvester ants, it varies-some nests be-
ing quite level with the soil, others. conf
cal, others in the form of mounds. Some
of these mounds contain gravels, carried
sometimes to the very top, and weighing,
some of them, more than twenty five ants
would weigh. A central space is cleared
around this mound, and made perfectly
fiat, and from this roads, broad and we'll
defined, branch off in every direction.
The interior of the houses consists of nu-
merous passages or galleries, horizontal
and vertical, leading to rooms of various
sizes, some adapted for the storage of
grain, some for the larvae, etc. Some
times there are as many as eighty gran
aries in one nest, the roof being supported
by pillars, the walls being plastered over
with cement to exclude the rain: Mogg-
ridge represents that in some of the nests
the floors "were carefully laid with
pieces of mica in cement"-a sort of tesse-
lated pavement.
AS children we have heard that ants
kept cooS. The sweet syrup exuded by
the aphis or plant-louse is the chief food
OF many ants, and they induce the aphis
to yield this precious liquor by gently
stroking it with the antenn@ They keep
their cattle very carefully concealed from
their enemies-sometimes building mud
wall around them, and running a tunnel
from the nest to the cow-pen. This seems
sufficiently wonderful, but it is affirmed
by Huber, Forel, White, and others that
they absolutely breed their tiny cattle,
rearing them from the egg with as much
care as their own Larvae.
1t is certain that several species of ants
rear SLAVES to do their work, and to wait on
them. They go on regular plundering
expeditions to rob the nests of their neigh
bors of their Larvae and pupe, which they
rear and bring up with great care as do
nestle servants-and it is at least a curl
Gus coincidence that the slaves the most
frequently selected are the black ants
Formico nigro).
Another mark of an apparent condi-
ton of civilization pointed out by Nc
Cook, and noticed long ago by Pliny, is
that they oloOays bury their dead, hay
ing usually special field set apart as
cemetery. The red slave-makers are
however, very careful according to Mrs
Treat, to bury their dead servitors sepa.
rate and apart from their own dead.
We have not space to more than allude
to the wars of the ants, which are not
simply fortuitous conflicts, occasioned by
the accidental meetings Of antagonistic
species; but are veritable campaigns, car
ried on with skill and caution, with
main army and reserve forces well or
ganised; and their campaigns often last
long time. Moggridge mentions war
which lasted forty-six days, and another
which lasted thirty-one days.
These modern researches, therefore, as
the writer in the Westminster Reviee0 re-
marks, abundantly vindicate King Solo
mon, when that learned monarch placed |
ants first among the four things which
are little upon the earth but which are
exceeding wise.
The value Of man as compared with
an elephant we do not consider as at all
diminished by consequence of the enor-
nous superior bulk of this animal why
then may we not come to regard the ant