III
I hope my reader is aware that ants practise horticulture and agriculture; that they are skilful in the cultivation of mushrooms; that they have domesticated (according to present knowledge) five hundred and eighty-four different kinds of animals; that they make tunnels through solid rock; that they know how to provide against atmospheric changes which might endanger the health of their children; and that, for insects, their longevity is exceptional—members of the more highly evolved species living for a considerable number of years.
But it is not especially of these matters that I wish to speak. What I want to talk about is the awful propriety, the terrible morality, of the ant. Our most appalling ideals of conduct fall short[1] of the ethics of the ant,—as progress is reckoned in time,—by nothing less than millions of years!………When I say “the ant,” I mean the highest type of ant,—not, of course, the entire ant-family. About two thousand species of ants are already known; and these exhibit, in their social organizations, widely varying degrees of evolution. Certain social phenomena of the greatest biological importance, and of
註
- ↑ to fall short 不足する。達せぬ。
