Part 7

"I dare say I do. There are persons much older than you are who have never attended at all to the doings of insects, who would be very much astonished by the history of the legionary ants; and probably would laugh at the whole account as an idle story; and yet it is all true, and those who have read and seen, know it to be true; and they know, too, that to deny it shows nothing but ignorance. However, I always let such persons alone. I can do them no good; for they are apt to be very conceited, and will not be convinced. And now for the legionary ant. This is a fighting ant, as well as the last I mentioned; and it actually steals the young of another kind, rears them, and puts all the work on them, so as to be idle itself. This curious fact was first found out by Mr. Huber; another gentleman, named Latreille, afterward saw the same thing; and now a great many naturalists know it, because they have sought for and seen it. The ant which it steals is of a dark ash colour; the legionary is of light colour. The dark-coloured ant is now called the negro ant, and is a very industrious, peaceable insect, without any sting. The legionary is a strong, brave ant, with a sting, but very lazy. I shall relate to you the account which Mr. Huber gives of the legionary. He was walking near the city of Geneva during an afternoon in the summer of 1804, when he saw quite an army of these legionary ants crossing the road; they passed through a thick hedge, entered a pasture, and kept on through the grass without separating; and Mr. Huber followed them until he saw them come near a nest of negro ants. Some of these negro ants seemed to be guarding the holes into their nest; but as soon as they saw the legionaries, they, with a great many more from the inside of the nest, attacked the thieves. The legionary ants, however, were too powerful for them, and after a short but severe fight they conquered the negroes, who ran into the lower part of their nests. The legionaries then mounted their ant-hill, some entered it by the holes already made, and others began with their teeth to break other holes, so that all the army might get into the hill. They went in and remained but a few minutes, when they came out, each one having in his mouth a young negro ant, and off they scampered, without any order among them, every one going his own way, until Mr. Huber lost sight of them. The next day he set out to go back and examine further, and on his way he found a large ant-hill full of legionaries, and saw an army start from it, which he followed. They made the attack as before, and each one came off with a young negro ant in his mouth, and on going back to their hill, from which Mr. Huber saw them start, he had an opportunity of seeing them return, and was very much surprised to find all around the nest of the legionaries a great many full-grown negro ants. At first he thought that perhaps they had gone there to fight the legionaries, but he soon saw that instead of fighting, the negro ants went out to meet the legionaries returning, and would caress them, and give them food, and finally take the young negro ants and carry them within the nest."

"But, Uncle Philip, why do the legionaries always take the young ones?"

"Because, boys, they know, I suppose, that the old ants would never be satisfied to remove from their homes; and therefore they take the young. These legionaries could work if they would, I think, but they depend upon the negro ants for house and home, and food too; and nothing can be more faithful and affectionate than these poor slaves are. To try them, Mr. Huber took thirty of the legionaries, and put them with some of the larvæ, or grubs of their own young, into a glass box with a thick coat of earth at the bottom of it, and he put honey also in the box, that they might not want food. At first the legionaries paid a little attention to their young; but they soon stopped; and they neither tried to make a house, nor took any food, so that in two days half of them died. Mr. Huber then put in _one_ negro ant, and this little creature set to work alone, made a chamber of the earth in the box, gathered the young together, fed the old, and put every thing into complete order.

"At another time Mr. Huber broke one of the ant-hills of these legionaries, to see how they would act, and in doing it, he, of course, altered their galleries and chambers. The legionaries seemed to be lost, and went wandering about, without knowing where to go; but the negro ants appeared to understand very well where they were: they could find such of the galleries as were not broken, and would take up the legionaries in their mouths and carry them into them. If the negro sometimes seemed for a short time to be lost, and not to know where it was, it laid down its master, ran round and examined until it knew, and then would come back, and pick up the legionary ant, and carry it off. In one case Mr. Huber saw that the entrance to a gallery was stopped up by a small lump of earth; the negro ant laid his master down, took away the piece of earth, and then carried him in."

"Why, these poor negro ants are sensible as well as faithful, Uncle Philip."

"Yes, boys, they are so; and I think it is likely that both kinds depend in some way upon each other, but we have not yet found all about it. I expect that in some things the legionary does for the negro ant what it could not do for itself. God has made them necessary to each other, and this is the reason they live together so kindly.

"But I think it is time now to leave the ants, and go back to our business of seeking for something like man's inventions and tools among the lower animals. Perhaps hereafter I may tell you more about ants; but at present I must bid you good morning."

"Good morning, Uncle Philip."

CONVERSATION XIII.

_Uncle Philip and the Boys make a Voyage, and he tells them of an Animal that makes itself into a Ship; and of an Insect that builds a Boat, and floats about in a Canoe; and of another that pumps Water, and wears a Mask; and of a Spider that builds a Raft, and floats upon it._

"Well, boys, I have a most delightful plan for us to-day."

"What is it, what is it, Uncle Philip?"

"Why, I have a little voyage to make, and my boat is on the river just above the mill. I have the men there to row it, and every thing is ready."

"Oh! dear Uncle Philip, this is charming! we shall be so happy! But--but--"

"But what, boys?"

"Why, Uncle Philip, we have not asked leave at home. Now our parents are very happy to have us visit you, and say that they are very much obliged to you for telling us so many things; but they have told us, too, never to get into a boat without asking their permission first. Uncle Philip, we are sure they will let us go, if they know that you are going; only let us run home and ask them."

"My dear boys, I am very much pleased with your conduct; and, what is far better, my children, God is pleased; for he has commanded you to honour your father and mother: but you need not go home to ask permission, for you may depend upon it I would not take one of you upon the water without the consent of your parents: so I went yesterday, while you were all at school, and have got permission from your friends for every one of you to go--only I asked them to tell you nothing about it."

"Oh dear, Uncle Philip, you are so very, very good: thank you, thank you, a thousand times over."

"Once is enough, boys. There is but one Being who deserves a thousand thanks, and he, in truth, deserves a great many more than a thousand; but I fear that from a great many he is just the Being who gets the fewest,--it is our Heavenly Father: but come on, boys, let us be going to the boat. We shall soon reach her. Ah, yonder she is; I see her through the trees."

"Oh, what a beauty she is, Uncle Philip, with her green sides and white belt near the top. We shall have a charming voyage."

"Come, then; get in, my little sailors, and seat yourselves yonder in the stern. Now we are all ready; shove off, men, and use your oars. I will take care of the helm."

"Oh, Uncle Philip, how smoothly we go along! this is charming. Is this the way a ship goes, Uncle Philip?"

"A ship floats, boys, just as the boat does; but she is not rowed with oars; she has sails, and the wind blowing upon them sends her along."

"Uncle Philip, there are no ships among animals, are there?"

"Oh no; but there is a very curious little animal which lives in the water, and manages to rig out something like a ship, and to sail."

"What is it, Uncle Philip? pray let us hear of it."

"It is called the nautilus, and I saw a great many of them in the Mediterranean sea. The shell is nearly round, and six or eight inches across, not much thicker than paper, and of a whitish colour: it has, too, a keel or ridge upon each side. When it wishes to sail, it stretches upwards two of its legs: these have a very thin skin at the end, which the nautilus spreads out for sails, and the other legs hang over on each side of the shell for oars or rudders. When the sea is calm, a great many of them may be seen playing about; but as soon as a storm arises, or they are disturbed, they take in their sails and sink to the bottom. But, boys, the most curious boat that I know, made by one of the dumb creatures, is the work of the little insect that played the doctor the other day, and stuck his lancet into us. Do you remember what insect that was?"

"Oh yes, very well, Uncle Philip, it was the gnat."

"True, boys, it was the gnat, which is an insect that spends the first part of its life in the water, and the latter part in the air. The grub of the gnat lives in water, and I will give you the whole history of this curious insect. We will first speak of the eggs, for out of these it is that the boat is made. In order to see this boat made, you must go early in the morning, between five and six o'clock, to a bucket, or pond of stagnant water, where gnats are to be found: if you go later you will not see it. The gnat's eggs are shaped something like a pocket powder-flask, and it is by putting a great many of these together that she makes the boat. To do this, the mother gnat stands by her fore-legs upon the side of the bucket, or on a leaf or stick in the pond, and her body is on a level with the water, and rests upon it, except the last ring of her tail, which she raises a little. She then crosses her two hind-legs in the shape of the letter X, and begins to put her eggs in that part of the X nearest to her body. So she brings her legs, crossed in this way, near to her body, and puts an egg in the angle, covered with a kind of glue, which will make the eggs stick together. On each side of the first egg she puts another in this shape .*., and here is a drawing of the insect at this part of her work.

"She then goes on adding eggs, which are all put in the water with their ends downwards, until she has got her boat half-finished; she then uncrosses her legs, and just keeps one on each side of the boat as she goes on, until she has completed it."

"And how many eggs, Uncle Philip, will she put together in this way?"

"From two hundred and fifty to three hundred and fifty, and when all are laid they make quite a good boat, sharp, and raised at both ends, and floating on the water. Then the mother gnat leaves it. Here is a picture of one of these boats.

"Now I will tell you of what becomes of the young ones in these eggs. They come out of the lower part of the egg, and commonly swim, with their heads downward, near to the top of the water."

"With their heads downward, Uncle Philip! what is that for?"

"Why, they have a tube at the end of their bodies, near the tail, through which they breathe; and that part must, you know, be at the top to get air. Besides this, its tail and its breathing tube both end in a sort of funnel, made up of hairs placed somewhat in the form of a star, and covered with oil, so as to keep off water, and these buoy or float it up. When it wishes to sink, it just folds up its funnels, and shuts up in them a little bubble of air, which it breathes under the water; and when it wishes to rise, it opens its funnels, and they float it to the top again. Here is a drawing which will show it to you.

"They are hatched in a few days, and then the boat of empty eggs floats about until it is destroyed by the weather. And to show you how good a boat it is, I will tell you what a gentleman did to prove it. Mr. Kirby, who is very fond of natural history, and has written a great deal about insects, says that he put half a dozen of these gnat-boats in a tumbler half full of water, and then poured upon them a stream from the mouth of a quart bottle, held up a foot above them, and he could not sink them. More than that, the water would not stay in them. If you push one to the bottom with your finger, it will come up to the top directly, and you cannot see any water in it."

"Why, this is a noble boat, Uncle Philip, that will never sink."

"True, boys; but listen, and you will find that before it can use its wings the gnat has to sail in another boat still, much more dangerous than this is. After it is hatched, it has to pass through several shapes before it gets to be such an insect as you see. Here is a picture which will show you its different shapes.

"The first is the same which you saw in the last picture, only in this drawing the head is uppermost. But its last change, when it becomes an insect with wings, is the most curious part of the whole. When it is about to get its wings, and become a perfect gnat, it raises its shoulders just above the top of the water, and its skin cracks, so that the head of the gnat immediately comes through. The shoulders come next, and make the crack larger; but it has yet all its body to get out, and its legs and wings are as yet all shut up in its case. Now is the time of danger for the gnat. It raises itself nearly straight out of the crack, and by wriggling works its body along: and if a particle of water should get upon the case, or touch its wings, it would be overset, and must perish. Thousands and thousands die in this way. It is so very light, too, that the wind will drive it about, and whirl it round and round upon the top of the water; and when it is almost out, the insect is tossed about in a canoe or boat of the very weakest sort, while its body is a mast, which appears much too large for so small a boat. At last it gets far enough out of the case to stretch its fore-legs, and put them down upon the water (which will bear a gnat's weight), and then it is safe; it spreads its wings, and soon leaves the little boat which was so dangerous. Here is a picture of the gnat getting out of its case."

"Well, Uncle Philip, all this is very strange; we never knew before that the gnat was a sailor."

"I suppose that you did not, boys. But as we are talking of boats, pray can you think of any way of making a boat move through water without oars, or paddles, or sails, or something to pull it along?"

"No indeed.--Oh yes, Uncle Philip, by steam."

"Ah, I mentioned paddles, boys, and a steamboat is forced along by them."

"No; Uncle Philip, we do not know."

"Well, I will tell you then of another way in which I have no doubt a boat might be made to move. If there were any contrivance by which a large quantity of water could be kept in the boat, and if this water were forced out of tubes or holes at one end very violently, it would push against the water in which the boat was floating, and force her along. Some years ago a plan was thought of to make a steam engine throw the water out of the stern of the boat, and thus to force her along; and before that, Dr. Franklin tried some schemes for the same purpose, but they never succeeded. Now there is an insect which adopts precisely this plan, and perhaps some of those who thought of it got the notion from the insect."

"What insect is it, Uncle Philip?"

"It is the grub of the dragon-fly. If you catch one of these grubs and put it into a saucer of water with some of the dead leaves or sticks it had for a covering, you will see these leaves or sticks floating towards the tail of the grub, and afterward driven off again. This is because the insect is pumping in water, and then throwing it out. If you take one of them out of the water, and hold it with its head down, and let a drop of water fall upon its tail, it instantly sucks it in, and you can see it grow larger; and when it throws it out again it becomes smaller."

"But, Uncle Philip, how can you see it suck the water in?"

"Very easily, boys. When it is in the water, if you will colour some other water with indigo, or ink, or any thing else, and then hold a glass tube just over the tail of the insect, and very carefully put some of the coloured water into the tube, you will soon see the grub spirt out a stream of it to the distance of several inches: or if you will put the insect in a saucer of coloured water, and then suddenly move it, and put it into one of clean water, you will see it spirt out the coloured stream plainer still."

"Why, Uncle Philip, it must have a pump inside of it."

"It has, boys, something very like one. This stream of water is forced out to help the insect along; for though it has six feet, it uses them very little except for catching food. It drives the water out so strongly against the still water behind it, that it sends it forward, with a dart, very rapidly. Here are two pictures; one shows the pump open, and the other shows it shut."

"Uncle Philip, is there any thing else curious about this insect?"

"There is, boys, something well worth attention; did you ever see a mask?"

"Do you mean, Uncle Philip, a face made of pasteboard, very frightful commonly, which you can wear over your own face?"

"That is a mask, boys; but so is any thing which is made to wear over the face, and hide it. Now this little insect has a mask, not made like a man's face, but which completely hides its mouth, and it is exceedingly curious."

"How is it made, Uncle Philip?"

"Why, boys, I am not sure that I can tell you, so that you will understand me; but I will try. Suppose your under-lip was horn, instead of being flesh; and suppose it hung straight down until it reached the bottom of your chin, so as to cover the whole of it, and that at the bottom there was a large three-sided plate which was hollowed out, and fastened by a joint or hinge to the bottom of your long lip, so that it could turn up on the hinge and cover your face as high up as your nose, and hide your long lip and your mouth and part of your cheeks: suppose, too, that at the upper end of this long face-cover there were two other pieces, so broad that they would cover all your nose and your temples, and could open sidewise like jaws, and show your nose and mouth, so that when they were opened they would appear like the blinders to a horse's bridle; and then suppose that these jaws, upon their inner edges, were cut into a great many sharp teeth, which fitted into each other, and you will have some notion of this curious mask. Do you think you understand me?"

"Why, pretty well, Uncle Philip, we think."

"Well, boys, here are some pictures, and with their help I hope what I have been saying will be plain enough. In one picture the mask is shut; and in the other, one of the jaws, like a blinder to a bridle, is open. While the insect is at rest, it keeps the mask over its face; when it wishes to use it, it unfolds it, and catches its food, and holds it to its mouth. A gentleman once saw one of them holding and eating a large tadpole."

"Uncle Philip, this mask is any thing but handsome."

"Very true; but you know we agreed when we were talking about the bats to look at animals even if they were not handsome. And there is your poor little ugly insect that you thought it right to kill, the spider; did you know that the spider was a sailor, too?"

"No, indeed, Uncle Philip! Pray tell us of it, will you?"

"Yes; but wait a little, until we bring the boat's head right, for we are near the landing-place. So--now, boys, I am ready. There is a very large spider, about which not much is yet known, which actually builds a _raft_, for the purpose of getting its food more easily. You may see it sailing about upon the water, on a ball of weeds about three inches across, which is held together probably by small silk cords spun from itself; and the moment it sees an insect drowning, it leaves the raft, gets the insect, and then returns to eat it at leisure. If you frighten it, or it thinks danger is near, in an instant it is under the raft out of sight."

"Ah, this is a cunning spider, Uncle Philip."

"Not half so cunning, boys, as the one we talked of which built a door to its house. But here we are at land. Jump ashore, my lads, and give my respects to your fathers and mothers, when you get home."

"We will. Good day, Uncle Philip."

"Good day, boys. I shall be glad to see you next Saturday."

CONVERSATION XIV.

_Uncle Philip tells the Boys about an Insect with Tweezers, and another with Pincers; and shows them how a Fly's Foot is made, so as to stick to the Wall._

"How do you do, Uncle Philip, this morning?"

"Very well, boys, I thank you. You are all well, I suppose, or I should not see you here."

"Yes, we are all well, thank you, Uncle Philip. But one of us would be very glad to have your help."

"Why, what is the matter?"

"Charles Walker has run a splinter into his hand, and he wishes you to get it out for him."

"Oh, certainly, I will do that, if I can. Let me see: but stay--I must first put on my spectacles. Ah, now I see it; I can get it out, but I must take my tweezers to it. There, it is out."

"Uncle Philip, those tweezers are very useful. If you had not had them, you could not have taken hold of the splinter with your fingers; and what would you have done then?"

"Tried to cut it out with the point of my penknife; but the tweezers are better for such work; and that reminds me, boys, to tell you that there are insects with tweezers."

"Why, what tool is it that you cannot find among them, Uncle Philip? It really seems as if you found almost every kind among the lower animals."

"Oh, no--no, boys. There are a great many which I cannot find; but there are several, too, which, as you know, we have discovered."

"And, Uncle Philip, we suppose that men learned to make their tools and work at many of their trades from these dumb creatures."