CHAPTER II.
THE EXTERNAL STRUCTURE OF ANTS.
Διὸ δεῖ μὴ δυσχεραίνειν παιδικῶς τὴν περὶ τῶν ἀτιμοτέρων ζώων ἐπίσκεψιν. Ἐν πᾶσι γὰρ τοῖς φυσικοῖς ἔνεστί τι θαυμαστόν· καὶ καθάπερ Ἡράκλειτος λέγεται πρὸς τοὺς ξένους εἰπεῖν τους βουλομένους αὐτῷ ἐντυχεῖν, οἳ ἐπειδὴ προσιόντες εἶδον αὐτὸν θερόμενον πρὸς τῷ ἴπνῳ, ἐστησαν· ἐκέλευσε γὰρ ἀυτὸυς εἰσιέναι θαῤῥούντας· εἶναι γὰρ καὶ ἐνταῦθα θεούς· οὕτω καὶ πρὸς τὴν ζήτησιν περὶ ἐκάστου τῶν ζώων ποσιέναι δεῖ μὴ δυσωπούμενον, ὡς ἐν ἅπασιν ὅντος φυσικοῦ καὶ καλοῦ.
"Wherefore we ought not childishly to neglect the study of even the most despised animals, for in all natural objects there lies something marvellous. And as it is related of Heraclitus that certain strangers who came to visit him, when they found him warming himself at the kitchen fire, stopped short—he bade them enter without fear, for there also were the gods: so we ought to enter without false shame on the examination of all living beings, for in all of them resides something of nature and beauty."—Aristotle, "De Partibus Animalium," I, 5.
The ants form a natural family (Formicidæ), or, according
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