On the least appearance of danger, the workers take possession, first of all, of the pregnant females, and drag them out by the secret outlets, so as to put in a place of safety their precious persons, the hope of the community. The workers' task is immense, for their labours increase in the same proportion as the population increases. But the division of work and the good understanding which exists between the members of the community, allow them to be prepared for anything that may happen, and to supply all their necessities. Nothing is more amusing than to observe the shifts ants are put to in transporting objects of great size. They stumble, they tumble head over heels, they roll down precipices; but, in spite of all accidents, return to their task, and always accomplish it. The tranquil inhabitants of these subterranean republics are bound together by mutual affection in a devoted fraternity, which makes them ever ready to assist each other. They all help one another as much as they can. If an ant is tired, a comrade carries it on its back. Those which are so absorbed with their work that they have no time to think of their food, are fed by their companions. When an ant is wounded, the first one who meets it renders it assistance, and carries it home. Latreille having torn the antennæ from an ant, saw another approach the poor wounded one, and pour, with its tongue, a few drops of a yellow liquid on the bleeding wound. Huber the younger one day took an ant's nest to populate one of those glass contrivances which he used for making his observations, and which consisted of a sort of glass bell placed over the nest. Our naturalist set at liberty one part of the ants, which fixed themselves at the foot of a neighbouring chestnut tree. The rest were kept during four months in the apparatus, and at the end of this time Huber moved the whole into the garden, and a few ants managed to escape. Having met their old companions, who still lived at the foot of the chestnut tree, they _recognised_ them. They were seen, in fact, all of them, to gesticulate, to caress each other mutually with their antennæ, to take each other by the mandibles, as if to embrace in token of joy, and they then re-entered together the nest at the foot of the chestnut tree. Very soon they came in a crowd to look for the other ants under the bell, and in a few hours our observer's apparatus was completely evacuated by its prisoners. When an ant has discovered any rich prey, far from enjoying it alone, like a gourmand, it invites all its companions to the feast. Community of goods and interests exists amongst all the members of this model society. It is the practical realisation of the dream formed by certain philosophers of our day, who were only able to conceive the idea, the possibility, the project of such a community of goods and interests, which is among ants a reality.