tell the difference when others came into the
room. When I would leave the room for a short outing, on my return I
would find her waiting for me on the top of the table. When others
entered the room, she would hide herself in her den, and remain there,
very frequently, until they took their departure.

It has been known for quite a while that in the nests of ants there are
always to be found other insects, which appear to dwell in perfect
harmony with the real builders and owners of the domiciles. Some of
these creatures (the aphides, for instance) are brought into the nests
by the ants themselves, which use them as we do cows, milking from their
bodies a clear, sweet fluid, which they greedily lap up with their
tongues. But there are other animals in the teeming formicary which seem
to subserve no useful purpose other than that of ministering to the
ants' love of pets or playmates. One notable little alien in certain ant
communities is a minute claviger beetle (so called from its peculiar
claviger, or club-shaped antennae), which seems to be a well-beloved
friend and companion, and which is always treated with great
kindness.[39] These little beetles sometimes leave the nest, and may be
observed sunning themselves at the entrance. The busy workers are never
so busy but that they can spend a fraction of a second for the purpose
of caressing their diminutive playmates. On one occasion, a swarm was
about to take place in one of my formicaries. The young princes and
princesses had emerged and had congregated about the entrance; they
seemed loath to take wing and fly away on their honeymoon jaunt out into
the unknown world. The workers were gently urging them to depart,
sometimes even nipping them slightly with their mandibles. Several
little clavigers could be seen running here and there and everywhere
through the crowd of anxious workers and timid young males and females.
They irresistibly reminded me of a lot of little dogs in a crowd of men
around some centre of excitement or attraction. I have seen dogs, on
more than one occasion, act in just such a manner. The ants,
notwithstanding their evident worry and excitement, seemed to notice
their little pets, and to give them, every now and then, an encouraging
pat, as it were, on their backs or heads.

[39] Consult Lubbock, _Ants, Bees, and Wasps_, pp. 75, 76.

The clavigers are not the only pets in a formicary; several other
species of beetles and one bug also live in