Page:Supplement to harvesting ants and trap-door spiders (IA supplementtoharv00mogg).pdf/15

 SUPPLEMENT TO HARVESTING ANTS.

During the short time which has elapsed since ''Harvesting Ants and Trap-door Spiders'' left the printer's hands, fresh material has rapidly accumulated, and an assiduous search after these creatures, and the continued study of their works and ways, has met with ample reward and encouragement.

It was my wish, when originally publishing these observations, many of which were due to the active co-operation of friends, to invite my readers to take part with me in my pleasure and pursuits, so that we should from that time work together, and, by communicating our discoveries to each other, increase our knowledge, and at the same time enlarge the field of our research. My intention was that we should leave to others the necessary work of collection, preservation, and arrangement, and that, while our fellow naturalists pin specimens into classified cabinets, and devote long hours to the description of peculiarities of form and colour, we should undertake the lighter task of complementing their labours by observing and recording the habits and conditions of existence of the creatures themselves.

Looked at in this light, the present pages and