in the other bottle, on the contrary, excited them considerably.

The whole day, one, two, or more ants stood sentry, as it were, over the bottle. In the evening no less than twelve were collected around it-a larger number than usually came out of the nest at any one time. The whole of the next two days, in the same way, there were several ants round the bottle containing the strangers; while, as far as we could see, no notice whatever was taken of the friends.

Seven days after, the ants had eaten through the muslin and effected an entrance. We did not chance to be on the spot at the moment; but as I found two ants lying dead-one in the bottle and one just outside-I think that there can be no doubt that the strangers were put to death. The friends throughout were quite neglected.

In one of my nests, was an ant without antennæ. Never having previously met with such a case, I watched her with great interest; but she never appeared to leave the nest. At length, one day, I found her wandering about in an aimless sort of manner, and apparently not knowing her way at all. After a while she fell in with some specimens of the little yellow ant, who directly attacked her.

I at once set myself to separate them; but owing either to the wounds she had received from her enemies, or to my rough though well-meant, handling, or to both, she was evidently much wounded, and lay helplessly on the ground. After some time another ant from her nest came by. She examined the poor sufferer carefully, then picked her up gently and carried her away into the nest. It

would have been difficult for any one who witnessed this scene to have denied to this ant the possession of humane feelings.

Again, on another occasion, I perceived a poor ant lying on her back and quite unable to move. The legs were in cramped attitudes, and the two antennæ rolled up in spirals. She was, of course, altogether unable to feed herself. After this I kept my eyes on her. Several times I tried uncovering the part of the nest where she was. The other ants soon carried her into the shaded part.

One day the ants were all out of the nest, probably for fresh air, and had collected together in a corner of the box; they had not, however, forgotten her, but had carried her with them. I took off the glass lid of the box, and after a while they returned as usual to the nest, taking her in again. The next day she was still alive, but shortly afterward, notwithstanding all their care, she died.

At the present time I have two other ants perfectly crippled in a similar manner, so that they are quite unable to move; but they have been tended and fed by their companions, the one for five, the other for four months.

Notes. A slip of glass means a long, narrow piece of glass. The word slip has as many as fifteen different meanings in this country. Mention four of the different uses of the word, explaining the meaning of each.

Elocution. - Point out the inflections in the last three lines of the first paragraph, and state the purpose for which they are employed.

Language. Explain the meaning of figures of comparison in the following sentences, and state whether they are metaphors or similes.

"One, two, or more ants stood sentry."

"Did not this ant possess humane feelings?"

6. ANECDOTES ABOUT ANTS.

PART

II.

Is'o lat ed, placed by itself.
de věl'oped, formed by natural
growth.

lär' væ, insects which have just

left the egg. moat, a ditch. mold, soft earth.

eǎp'il la ry, fine, like a hair.

im mẽrsed, dipped.

at trǎe'tion, the act of drawing toward.

min'i mīze, reduce to the smallest amount.

ex pē'di ent, means.

In ter pose, put between.
ae çèsş'i ble, easy to get at.

I have made a number of experiments on the power of smell possessed by ants. I dipped camel'shair brushes into peppermint - water, essence of cloves, lavender-water, and other strong scents, and suspended them about a quarter of an inch above the strips of paper along which the ants were passing in the experiments before recorded.

Under these circumstances, while some of the ants passed on without taking any notice, others stopped when they came close to the pencil, and evidently perceiving the smell, turned back. Soon, however, they returned and passed the scented pencil. After doing this two or three times, they generally took no further notice of the scent.

This experiment left no doubt on my mind; still, to make the matter even more clear, I experimented with ants placed on an isolated strip of paper. Over the paper, and at such a distance as almost, but not quite, to touch any ant which passed under it, I again suspended a camel's-hair brush dipped in lavender-water, essence of cloves, and other scents.

In these experiments the results were very

marked; and no one who watched the behavior of the ants, under these circumstances, could have the slightest doubt as to their power of smell.

I then took a large queen ant and fastened her on a board by a thread. When she had become quiet, I tried her with some tuning-forks, but they did not disturb her in the least. I then approached a feather very quietly, so as almost to touch first one, and then the other of the antennæ, which, however, did not move.

I then dipped the pencil in essence of musk and tried again; the antenna was slowly drawn back. I then repeated the same with the other antenna. If I touched the antenna, the ant started away apparently smarting. I then experimented with essence of lavender, and with a second ant. The results were the same as before.

Many of my other experiments point to the same conclusion; and, in fact, there can be no doubt whatever that in ants the sense of smell is highly developed.

In order to test the intelligence of ants, it has always seemed to me that there was no better way than to ascertain some object which they would clearly desire, and then to interpose some obstacle which a little ingenuity would enable them to overcome. I therefore placed some larvæ in a cup, which I put on a slip of glass surrounded by water, but accessible to the ants by only one pathway, in which was a bridge consisting of a strip of paper twothirds of an inch long and one-third of an inch wide.

Having then put a black ant from one of my nests near these larvæ she began carrying them off,

and by degrees a number of friends came to help her. I then, when about twenty-five ants were so engaged, moved the little paper bridge slightly, so as to leave a chasm just so wide that the ants could not reach across. They came and tried hard to do so; but it did not occur to them to push the paper bridge, though the distance was only about one-third of an inch, and they might easily have done so. After trying for about a quarter of an hour, they gave up the attempt and returned home. This I repeated several times.

Then thinking that paper was a substance to which they were not accustomed, I tried the same with a bit of straw one inch long and one-eighth of an inch wide. The result was the same. I repeated this more than once.

Again, I suspended some honey over a nest of yellow ants, at a height of about half an inch, and accessible only by a paper bridge more than ten feet long. Under the glass I then placed a small heap of earth. The ants soon swarmed over the earth on to the glass, and began feeding on the honey. I then removed a little of the earth, so that there was an interval of about one-third of an inch between the glass and the earth; but though the distance was so small, they would not jump down, but preferred to go down by the long bridge.

They tried in vain to stretch up from the earth to the glass, which, however, was just out of their reach, though they could touch it with their antennæ; but it did not occur to them to heap the earth up a little, though if they had moved only half a dozen particles, they would have secured for