Ants and their Ways

Abstract

ANT literature is now so extensive and the subject is so popular, that it was an excellent idea to give in a handy volume a résumé of all that is known of the economy and life-history of these interesting insects. The writer is well fitted for the work, having made ants his special study for more than twenty years, during which time he has observed in their native haunts nearly every species of British ant, and has been able to confirm some of the most curious facts of their social economy. Although full of detailed and interesting information, and containing the results of the most recent observations of Sir John Lubbock, Dr. McCook, Forel, and other writers, the book is written in a lively and gossiping style well fitted to attract the young and persons who are not usually readers of scientific works; but many will think that liveliness of style is carried too far when we find such sensational headings as “Political Demonstration in the Ant-world,” “Funeral Rites,” “The Ants at their Toilet,” &c., &c.

Ants and their Ways.

With Illustrations, and an Appendix giving a Complete List of Genera and Species of the British Ants. By the Rev. W. Farren White., Vicar of Stonehouse, Gloucestershire. (London: The Religious Tract Society, 1883.)