creatures, to satisfy the wants of the members of the community at home. On this wall a queen has often been observed, attended by a strong body-guard of her loyal subjects.

There is yet another species of ant which has established itself in London. It is a native of Madeira. Its name is Tapinoma gracilescens, and does not occur in any published list of British ants. I find it mentioned in the official General Catalogue of Ants in the British Museum, and the Botanical Gardens, Kew, is given as a habitat. The presence of this ant in the heart of the great city is a most interesting fact. It is many years ago since I first observed it in my brother's house. I noticed it in large numbers in the Rectory kitchen in 1876, and at Christmas, 1878, I received the queen and one of her subjects by post from one of my nephews, this being the first time I had set my delighted eyes upon her majesty. It is chiefly in the summer-time that they visit the dining-room, in the sugar. They are always seen downstairs, except in extremely cold weather. Their being noticed in the dining-room at Christmas-tide, and that an exceptionally cold season, was a most unusual circumstance. The queen

immediately attracted attention by her great size. She was in the sugar-basin, and surrounded by a number of her devoted attendants. The latter are very small, of a black colour, with very long thin legs and antennæ. They run very rapidly, and are very difficult to capture, except when satisfying their hunger. I have often caught them by spreading sugar in their pathways and customary haunts. Though they are particularly fond of sugar, they will

eat anything sweet. They feast also on shrimps' heads, when placed near the entrance of their burrows, and they are often seen carrying off dead flies and beetles. I have frequently noticed them bearing along dead flies as well as sugar for the good folks at home. They are also to be seen in the Crystal Palace, and they have been met with at St. Leonard's-on-Sea; so that I think it is a species which, though possibly imported, like the Pheidole lævigata, the other native of Madeira, may now be registered as British.

CHAPTER VI.

The Workers and their Offices-They vary in Function, Size, and Structure-In some Colonies more than two Distinct Forms-Bates Record The Workers of three Orders- The Worker-minors Mounds and Galleries - Cutting Leaves - Robbing the Farinha Baskets The Function of the Worker-majors — Worker-majors with unique Frontal Eye-The Queen of Myrmica scabrinodis described-The Princesses-Their Mid-air Dances-"The Haunted Tree's on fire "-A Political Demonstration in the Ant-worldTheir Constitution a Limited Monarchy-The Princesses further described-The Princes-Their Short Career.

IN a former chapter I endeavoured to describe the worker of the common red ant, I say worker, since you should know that, as in the constitution of the beehive, so also in the ant's colony, there are three classes of individuals, distinct in their character and differing in their employments-the workers, the females, and the males; the workers, again, vary in size, form, and function.

The workers, being neuters or undeveloped females, are those which form the main body of the community, and which usually present themselves to our view on the ants' highways, on the surface of the nest, or in the interior when an entrance has been effected. Their office it is to nurse and educate the young, to

build the house, to defend the colony when attacked by enemies, and to forage for provisions.

I have generally found large and smaller workers in an ant colony; and sometimes intermediate forms connecting the two extremes. Their offices or

functions seem to vary. In disturbing a nest of our indigenous slave-maker, Formica sanguinea, I have always noticed that the large workers immediately come out to ascertain the cause of the disturbance and resent the unexpected attack, assuming an attitude of defiance, while the smaller workers remain indoors, possibly to quiet the babies or reassure the perturbed mind of their sovereign lady the queen. The special function of the smaller workers is to attend to all domestic duties. I have observed that the slaves that belong to the species Formica fusca, and to the labouring class, and who always keep within when the attack is made, as a rule are small workers. Sometimes the workers vary in structure as well as size. The large worker of the Madeira ant has a largelydeveloped head. (See Fig. 16, p. 93.)

In some ant colonies more than two distinct forms of workers are found. I may instance the Saüba, or Umbrella ant of Brazil. Mr. H. W. Bates has watched these marvellous ants in their native haunts in the Amazons valley, and has given us a graphic record in his work entitled, The Naturalist on the River Amazons. He thus describes the indefatigable workers with their diverse functions: "This ant," Ecodoma cephalotes, "is seen everywhere about the suburbs of Pará marching to and fro in broad columns, and from its habit of despoiling the most valuable cultivated trees of their foliage, it is a great scourge

to the Brazilians. In some districts it is so abundant that agriculture is almost impossible, and everywhere complaints are heard of the terrible pests. The workers of the species are of three orders, and vary` in size from two to seven lines."

The true working-class of a colony is formed by the small-sized order of workers-the worker-minors, as they are called. The functions of the two other kinds are not yet properly understood. In one the head is highly polished; in the other it is opaque and hairy. The worker-minors vary greatly in size, some being double the bulk of others. The entire body is of very solid consistence and of a pale reddish-brown colour. The thorax or middle segment is armed with three pairs of sharp spines; the head, also, has a pair of similar spines proceeding from the cheeks behind.

"In our first walks we were puzzled to account for large mounds of earth, of a different colour from the' surrounding soil, which were thrown up in the plantations and woods. Some of them were very extensive, being forty yards in circumference, but not more than two feet in height. We soon ascertained that they were the work of the Saübas, being the outworks or domes, which overlie and protect the entrances to their vast subterraneous galleries. On close examination I found the earth of which they are composed to consist of very minute granules, agglomerated without cement, and forming many rows of little ridges and turrets. The difference in colour from the superficial soil of the vicinity is owing to their being formed of the under-soil, brought up from a considerable depth. It is very rarely that the ants are seen at work on these mounds; the entrances seem to be generally