CHAPTER II.--THE ANTS:--THEIR DOMESTIC ECONOMY--THEIR NUPTIALS.

Value of the ants as purifying and cleansing agents, 245 An incident at Barbadoes, 246 The carpenter-ants, and their ingenuity, described, 247 Singular affection which they display for the young, 251 They watch over them with incessant vigilance; their mode of inter-communication, 251 A picture is given of the economy of an ant-hill, 252 In their labours the ants solve numerous problems by sheer intuition, 253 Their nuptials described as an idyllic poem, 254 What remained in the morning, 255