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Yet these leaves are covered with the warts made by the saw-flies to deposit their eggs in. The male saw-fly of this species and some others is scarcely ever seen, though the female is so common. The creature stings the leaf, dropping into the wound a portion of formic acid, and then lays its egg. The stung leaf swells, and makes the protecting gall.
It is true he tastes slightly of formic acid, but that is just the flavour that epicures admire. And when you come to speak of "hams," ah! try his! Cure them well and properly, and eat one, and you will never again talk of "Spanish" or "Westphalian."
It is not every kind of ant, however, that can sting; a great many can only bite with their little hard horny jaws, and then eject a drop of formic poison afterwards into the hole caused by the bite. The distinction is a delicate physiological one, not much appreciated by the victims of either mode of attack.
But he observed that the ants brought their store of grain into the open air to dry it after the monsoon storms. From this it appears that the preservative effect of the formic acid is destroyed by great moisture, and hence this drying process.
So that among the bees the honey which is stored for winter use, and among the ants the stores of grain which serve for food, are preserved by one and the same fluid, formic acid. This same theory has been suggested many times by our most advanced American bee-keepers.
No criticism have I seen since you went away that was worth notice. Poor Lecky is weak as water bilge-water with a drop of formic acid in it: unfortunate Lecky, he is wedded to his Irish idols; let him alone." The reference to Lecky, as unfair as it is amusing, was provoked by a review of Froude in Macmillan's Magazine.
Swarming on the extremity of the branches among which the formicary is constructed, the defenders, projecting their terminal segments as far into space as possible, eject formic acid in the direction of the enemy. Like shrapnel from machine guns, the liquid missile sweeps a considerable area.
Let us take, for example, the last of this series and set one after the other n = 1, n = 2, etc., we get the following results omitting the compounds. CH O Formic Acid boiling point 100° melting point 1°. C H O Acetic Acid boiling point 118° melting point 17°. C H O Propionic Acid boiling point 140° melting point . C H O Butyric Acid boiling point 162° melting point .
When an increase in the efficacy of the baths is desired, a quantity of extract obtained by the distillation of the etherised oil above mentioned, which also contains formic acid, is poured into the liquor. Besides which, the liquid itself is thickened by concentration, and sent out in sealed jars to those who wish to have baths at home, thus constituting a profitable article of trade.
There is a tang and a pungency to nearly everything he published; the personal quality which flavors it is like the formic acid which the bee infuses into the nectar he gets from the flower, and which makes it honey. I feel that some such statement about Thoreau should precede or go along with any criticism of him as a writer or as an observer.
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