The ants.

(II. Samuel, xxii. 10.) Tempestuous winds arise, driving clouds of dust in every direction; but the Almighty himself "rides on the whirlwind and directs the storm." Before the splendor of his majesty the clouds are parted asunder; the lightning flashes, the thunder roars, and the hail descends. “The sound that goeth out of his mouth he directeth under the whole heaven, and his lightnings unto the end of the earth. After it a voice roareth, he thundereth with the voice of his excellency; great things doth he which we cannot comprehend.” (Job xxxvii. 2-5.) But, if his awful lightnings sometimes strike terror into his creatures, his boun tiful hand is nevertheless extended to distribute among them abundance of food in due season.

JULY 9.

THE ANTS.

THE ants, like the bees, may be considered as a commonwealth, having a regular government, constitution, and laws. They live in a town, that is divided into streets, all of which lead to distinct magazines. The industry with which they collect materials for constructing their habitations is truly astonishing. They form their retreat. They collect a quantity of grass, straw, sticks, and such like things, with which they form a heap, and apparently without observing the least degree of order; but notwithstanding this seeming confusion, we discover in it considerable art and skill upon a more attentive examination. Beneath the hillocks under which they reside, and which are constructe in such a manner that the water can run off, we find VOL. III, No. 14.

D

The ants.

passages which communicate with each other, and may be considered as the streets of this little city. The care which the ants take of their eggs cannot fail, in particular, to excite admiration. With what solicitude they convey them from place to place; with what tenderness they feed their young, and remove out of the way every thing that might hurt them. They even pay attention to maintain around them the temperature which is best adapted to their growth. Their painful toils in summer to collect provisions, are undertaken principally for the sake of their progeny; for they have themselves no cccasion for food during the winter, because, they pass that whole season, till the commencement of spring, in a state of insensibility. As soon as the young have crept forth from the egg, they are busily employed in feeding them, which is an extremely troublesome occupation. The ants have commonly several habitations, and convey their young from one to another, which they are desirous of rendering more populons. According as the weather is hot or cold, dry or wet, they remove their larvæ nearer to the surface of the earth, or farther from it. In fair weather they bring them very near the surface, and sometimes even place them in the sunshine after rain, or in the cooling dew after a long drought; but, on the approach of night, rain, or cold, they again take up their offspring in their paws, and carry them so low down into the earth, that you are sometimes obliged to dig to the depth of more than a foot before you reach them.

There are several species of this insect. The wood-ants reside in woods and groves, without doing the slightest injury to the meadows: of these

The ants.

there are two sorts, one red and the other black. Some chuse for their residence dry places, and prefer such where they find in the earth the relics of pine and birch trees, in the roots of which they construct their habitations. Those of another species inhabit the old stumps of felled trees that project above the surface of the earth, in which they form their dwellings, at such a height as to be out of the reach of its humidity. The cavities of the trunk they convert into chambers, covering them with straw and other materials, to shelter themselves from rain and snow. The same difference of color prevails among the field-ants, but they are smaller than the former. They build their nests, either among corn, or among the grass in meadows. As long as the weather continues dry, they remain at a considerable depth below the surface of the soil; but when it is wet, they raise their habitations more and more, according to the quantity of rain. As this decreases, they again retire to their lower apartments. Some of the ants are furnished with wings, and may be seen in great numbers in autumn, flying over the ditches and other waters.

But are these insects, which commit such devastations in our meadows, worthy of our attention? By their subterraneous labors they excavate the earth, and throw up the soil in such a manner as to injure the herbage. These and other complaints are made against the ants. They are enemies to bees and silk-worms, and are charged with doing considerable injury to the flowers, and in particular to the young trees. They are said to consume the buds and young shoots, and, insinuating themselves under the bark, to penetrate to the very heart of the tree. Hence these insects are universally per

The ants.

secuted and exterminated wherever they are found. If the ants collected honey, even at the expence of myriads of other creatures, they would be held in the highest estimation; but because they destroy, in the construction of their nests, a few plants which might be useful to us, we think ourselves authorized to kill them whenever we can. But, even though these insects are productive of some mischief, are they, on that account, the less deserving of our notice? Are only those animals that render us immediate service worthy of our attention? 0! no, my brethren, let us relinquish this prejudice. Even the ants are capable of affording us instruction and amusement. Their conformation, their inces sant industry, the economy of their commonwealth, their tender care of their young, and perhaps many other qualities which we have not yet discovered, are calculated to convince us of the wisdom of that Being, who is their Creator as well as ours. For, my brethren, of all the works which God hath made, there is none but what is good and excellent, and worthy of admiration, however useless or per nicious it may appear.

The supreme Creator, who hath given life and breath to every being, formed nothing without design, nothing but what has its use and destination. Not a single leaf upon our trees, not a blade of grass in our fields, not a blossom of our flowers, nor even the smallest mite that exists, hath he created in vain. This important truth, ye despised and persecuted insects, will I learn of you. Thus I shall never contemplate an ant-hill without going away from it both wiser and better.*

* To the brief account of the ant given by the author, I

Of hail

JULY 10.

OF HAIL.

HAIL is nothing but congealed drops of rain, of a spherical, oblong, or angular form. To some it

shall take the liberty of subjoining a few of the most interesting particulars which he has omitted to notice, respecting the natural history of that insect.

The common ants are divided, like the bees, into three classes; males or drones, females, and laborers, which are of neither sex. The two former have wings, but the latter are destitute of those appendages. The females lay eggs, which are so small as to be almost imperceptible. In a few days a worm issues from them, and grows with great rapidity till it becomes considerably larger than the ants themselves. These larva, or grubs, being without legs, and of an oblong form, are commonly, but erroneously called eggs. In a short time they change into aureliæ, and the latter into perfect ants.

After the females are fecundated, and have deposited their eggs, most of them perish, together with all the males. As the working ants pass the winter in a torpid state, this alone is sufficient to disprove the vulgar idea that they employ the summer in collecting a hoard for their subsistence during the inclement season. On the contrary, all the food which they convey to their habitation is immediately consumed.

Another mistaken notion relative to these insects is, that they are injurious to trees. The mischief ascribed to them is actually committed by the aphis, which discharges a saccharine fluid upon the leaves. Of this the ants are extremely fond; and accordingly, wherever the aphis is found, there also the ants are observed in great numbers. So far from being pernicious, it is now well known that they may be rendered instrumental in clearing the trees of caterpillars. This is done in some places by hanging a pouch, filled with ants, upon a tree, the foot of which has been besmeared with wet clay or soft pitch. A hole is made in