Marvels of Ant Life. By W. F. Kirby. (S. W.
Partridge and Co.)—It would not be easy to find a more fruitful subject than the habits of ants. The catalogue of their achievements sounds almost like a joke. They build houses, they plant fields, they grow mushrooms, keep cattle, hold slaves. They have leisured classes, who do nothing but eat and fight ; they have workers who feel it their highest duty and privilege to feed these idle masters. About all these matters Mr. Kirby gives us plentiful details, of his own knowledge and from many books, for the literature of ant life is of considerable extent. The result is a volume of quite extraordinary interest. Here is a sample :—" Our English Formica sanguinea is a less degraded ant than the Amazon ant ; and can carry on housekeeping alone, in the absence of slaves, which are a luxury with them and not a necessity of life, as in the case of the Amazon. F. sanguinea, too, is not content merely with carrying off pupae, but also
carries off the bodies of the slain ants for food The negro ants which inhabit the Amazon nests are a harmless, peaceful race, content to follow the ordinary domestic avoca- tions of an ants' nest ; the negroes inhabiting the nests of F. sanguinea are fierce and warlike, and often take part in the expeditions of their mistresses against their own kith and kin." This last statement is very curious. Not only the British man, but the British ant, seems to have the art of making the subject races into fine fighting material.
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