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lENIEATH' 'It9 BARKicAND UNDER':
Br 8. H. WINTLE.--(onat hued.)
t .ero i anobor ,t rap boulder, and' beforie
we overturn it J will venture a' statement to:
ie oeffect thatwo will' flnd'neithoe scorpions'
beetles, nor spiders under it, ht b In"tbeir,
stead a colony of -those very'rnieikisbl
creatures we call antsFor iic s of natural.
islet) You 'aturally enoughb want "to know
how I can .make such a prediction. -'Well, do:
you not observe that the stone Is partly OF.
bodded is a loose oarencerss soil, and that the
vogotation ;is scanty close~ to I; P,- Crtaln
ant prefero a somewhat loose soil ti which;
to conatroot their galleries., ' There I you sae'
I wae not:;zslfhal'o 'prophet, for" we have Inott
only thoants anad'their' labyrinthine gallery,
but also their eggs, and sadly disturbed they
are at this unexpooted' assault;:' There are' se"
you perceive, ante with wings and others with
out wings, and d these last are busy
carrying'. off the helpless larvec into
the interior of : thoeu dwelling. \ This `is
what, I doubt not, you have frequently seen.
bofore, but nevertheless I fancy I oat present
this old faot' to you 'with' now' interest, eid in
making tho attempt we will first consider the
inshattitants, 'and then iipq'uiro linto ' the
cliasrncier'of tbeii dwelling.. You observe it,
is oxily,'he: large wingless auti that'rso'
tony in ctarrying oif those yellow;:,oblong
cocoons Into the dark recesses of their suhtir.
ratisis shode. '"''hose so- employed areothe
laborers and nurses, while the 'mallor ashen.
gray ones,' with four transparent wings,' are
the usales and females.: The solicitude with
:which those laborers gourd' and' protect the.
helpless larvmn contained in those yellow bags
ta really wonderful. You-observed the-first.
thing they, did upon our, dieiplaoing the stone
wee to seize- them --and- 'carry '-them
away.- -There are some you see rushing out
I troms every opening wLo do nothing but run'
about in all directions:and survey us. Haver
a care that, they do not orawl up your lege, for:
these are the soldiera come to wage war with
ti'for Attaek upon thoir'castle. Their of'ice
seeme tobe solely'that of the warrior; 'bet as,
they do not get 'blood.moisoy"' for' 'fighting,
as far as we knowe they cannot be regarded
as "'hired'eassanet" --.'. .".,
A-colony of ants is composed of three dri.
tinot classes-the breeders, the laborers, and
the warriors. . It is the duty of the laborers:
to furnmbh the food, to construct. the' formi.t
cery, 'or dwelling, and 'protect the young.
When we consider the.vast amount- of care
they bostow upos the young, in, both the
grub and pupa' state, they can have no idle,
time on their hands.' In exposing an ant
neat to view 'you will, frequently' find -these'
laborers busily employed in 'carrying'the eggs'
or larve 'either to the top or bottom' of their
galleries. 'This' they do according to the
changes in the temperature of the' weather;
thoir objoct' boing to equalise' as-`nearly as'
possible the temperature of' their charge, In
mild weather, like the present, we find the
larvye in the upper chambers; ,but let the
temperature fall two or three degrees, and
then we would have to search for them much
'lower down. . Not thoe least remarkable fact
of "these intelligent inseots is, that when
nurses find they have lot some of the larvmo
or eggs. by' disease, or 'other circumstances,
they' will attempt to ateal others from the
I dearest snest or aol-bill 6f the siame species,
C and hence the origin of mnany of those terrible
battles wh'eh fill ,thespectator ,with wonder.
Ponrhst' 'you trove never, seen one' of these
" bloodllss battles" waged between two legions
of ante.' I have ;'-but of:this I~wilh tell yoe
preeoa1sljy ; ,, l;:; , i ' f
,,The ants we are, now -observing '(the:
winged males and-females-- being no longer:
visible) are what. are 'called mason ants, in,
contradistinction to those which construct
their nests ini treesby-gnawing the wood into;
chambers and galleries. ! This species answers
to .rionniisa'cintmereut (Huber). 'If you take,
note you-wi 1 sec that they, have, excavated
long oivite, irregular eh.mbhrs in the 'eurth,
thelt sides sod - floor of whichb are perfectly
smnooth n'odcleao, while'the, stone which wo.
have removed formed the roof, of theseupper5
chambers;, Thle'depth to,'whieh these chain-.
bore 'roach varies socording to the species.,
The eko'vations of this epooeie I have traced
to a depth of two feet from the surface." It
his' been ,ascertained that' the working 'ite.
are' imperfectly. developed femisles 'asnd con
sequently ,isicapable 'of' layingegges, and are
tierefore the better suited .for' the duties of.
lorragers and nurses. Wbhile they dieplay'. thl
utmost affdotion'' for'the'ife'ia'es andoare for.
the young, they entirely neglect' the msles,
Ahich in the course of afis daysedie. There,
is a great iniilaritybetwoeenr the goverismeot'
of a colony. of ants and that of 'a hive of bees.
Yet there i' this diffrenroeLth'at the 'quses,
ante, so to speak; exercise no authority.- Each
ant acts independently, all obeying a corn
ion instinct,' Perhaps i the"' most,
remarkrble featire of the wisiged ants, ia the
power they possess of.throwing off theirwlegs
'at will, and frequently the laborers will 'ive
-he fem'les'the trouble of naking 'the effort,
by polling them off when they ribh to 'keep
t'leu prisoners.' Letme 'give you as instance
f this singular 'power they possess.
Not many weeks go,' while Iwes engaged
lie ues eoyeniig iii recording 'some observe;,
thns I had recently' made o on iseatif,"
winged ant flew 'into the roos 'siaid lighted
upsn the table. Immediately ~ lpture 1t

and plack n a enil box witIn Rhins cover
to it, 'After ranning'ronnd the box two or
tiroe tlimes and finding aco moneatof ecapo 1t
eoddenly'paueadj and with a convulsive move
msnt of its body it throw'f, tol my astonish.
mont, its wings. The four wings fll on the
floor of tho box at ono and th ernam time.
Having freed itself of its beautiful transparent
pinions, ituatrokedu its sontonno and mouth
withits fore loge with apparent satlefartlon,
and aghict renewed theo task, of trying to ea..
capo.Tbo following morning I found it dead,
I have leard of orayfish casting off their'
lgs awill 'ipon agun i benig fired, and mast
confessI alwiay viowed 'the statement with
sepojticidlsm, myifformaints being principallf
those who livs by astching them; but after
'iinessing the ease with which, the ant dl.
vestdd itself of its wings, my scepticism about,
the orayfish is much modified,.
J Coniceroing the soldier ants, as far as my
limited observation of their habits sorvos me,.
I think that only comparatively few epeaies
can aford to keep a," standing army." It is
certain that terimitoes, or white ante, wage war
in mighty' artias, and also the red ant
F6orgifca' rsgfii'tpol` a soldier" 'at the colonists,
aa'well as the largo " bulldog d." "
"Abodtthree yearsuago I witnessed a> battle'
of ante on Knooklofty,' the most 'sanguinary"
I bad over seen. Whils croosing"a beaten
path my attention was , drawn.; to a large
army of bulidog ants deliberately marching in
file along the path. Pestexperionoa'in the
Interior,of New South Wales told me what I
might expept to see if, I only oared, to .wtch.
their (notions. Hignieo tp th, adiiTant
aboiit''tol: feet," I observed another army,
somewhat larger, deliberatelyn marohing down
to'theest (itm: 'On "either eido there' were a
few outside sekirmishers.. These met, and
after; an interchanogo of civilities, '.snob as
to'baing oneanoather with, their antenson, they
suddeily euizdd one antither' in their pincers;
and commencod to fight desperately. In a
short time the two great armies met, and then
began the wholesale oarnage. At first they
foughtihand to' hand in single pairs, but on
one 'of the "buildogs" observing a' comrade
gettlingt the worst, of it he would go
to I his -' aid, but ie 'would s oon
be met by a: rival from tbs smaller brown
ants.'"The 'saglce ocoupied by these contend.
iug forces was tall five feet in length and two
in breadth, and it was covered with ants. In
a'ehort time there wore many dead and dying
strewinr theogroud.' ' Their mode of attack
was to 'seizo a.log enob by their powerful
mandibles, and try to tear it from tbs body,
and on fildding that to' be in vain, to bring
inito'play tbeir venomnous sting lodged in thet
til, It was iindeed most clover the tactics
they displayed in parrying of:l the sharp
shining weapon; After fighting thus des.
porately for half an hour, soma began to re.
move the, dsadiand wounded, and ,others to
make prisoners of war. ' In many places
there were distinct contending groups formed
in thistway. Two'of the smaller ants would
be dragging away a wounded prisoner of the
" bulldogs," when another " bulldog" would t
come to the resone, 'IThe brown ante, upon
getting the worst of it, wouil be assisted by
one or.two more of their kind, and thus small
distinct battles would spring up out of the
greatono. ' Oso thing that I noticed in this
encounto,' which speaks eloquently for the
almost human intelligence of these creatures,
was that those who 'came to' reounu en
unlucky comrade from the jaws of the enemy
mover seized him to .drag hin out, of the I
other's cluntches, but always .attacked
tbs would-be captor, being aware, that r
to drag' the wounded warrior away by
force would most likely kill him out.
right.. Thus the work of tearing, mangling, -
stinging, capturing, and slain-removing went I
on for upwards of an hour, when a shower of
rain, falling~ put. a stop, for, a time to the
slaughter, for ants do not like water. Passing
the same spot an hour afterwards, (the
weather having cleared up) I found that they 4
had resumed tbs confliot, and believing it to -
be a war of extermination, I left, them at it 1
with a scoret wish that the small ones would i
gain the victory over the " bulldogs," for
although they wanted in size they were superior
in number.;
It is only comparatively of late years that
the habits of ants have been scientifically in.
vostigated. To Gould and Haber is due the
credit ofhavingby patient and practical inquiry
dispelled much of tbo error concerning them
that has comedownii from antiquity.
(To Le' continued,)

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