AFFECTION FOR THE YOUNG. ,")21 



several outlets. The hollow spaces lie in several stories over each other, 

 and are used only as rooms for the larvae; the ants do not make a provi- 

 sion of food, but hybernate within their dwellings, from which they arouse 

 upon the approach of spring. Their food consists of sweet animal and 

 vegetable juices, which they convey also to the larvae; they are particu- 

 larly fond of the juice that exudes from the tubes upon the abdomen of 

 the plant lice ; they therefore not merely pursue these creatures, but also 

 retain them in their dwelling. Their pairing time is August ; immense 

 multitudes of both sexes then quit their dwelling, and copulate in 

 flight, especially towards evening, about which time they frequently fly 

 up and down in the air iu myriads. The males die quickly after copu- 

 lation, whereas the females are either brought back by the neuters to 

 their former dwelling, or else, either singly or in society, they found 

 new dwellings, which they speedily populate with their own progeny. 

 It is remarkable, that before the commencement of their new labours 

 they purposely deprive themselves of their wings. The young, which 

 pass but a short time in the larva state, during which they are fed by 

 the mother, do not quit the egg before the following spring ; and if 

 neuters, they immediately after their development participate in the 

 labours of the mother, they feed the larvae, increase the dwelling, leav- 

 ing nothing for the old parent of the nest to do : whereas in the old 

 colonies, to which impregnated females return, or therein pair with the 

 males, the eggs are not laid until the spring, until which time no young 

 progeny is to be found in the nest. Thus the entire society of neuters, 

 with the few impregnated females among them, and without any young 

 ones, hybernate. As soon, however, as the first warm sunshine of the 

 spring rouses them they re-commence their labours, they mend their 

 dwelling, seek food, and convey nutriment also to the female. These 

 then lay eggs, from which the larvae soon creep, the whole development 

 of which, from the egg to the imago, is so rapid that it is completed in 

 twenty-three days. The males and females now present themselves, 

 but they remain in the dwelling until the middle of the summer, and 

 then quit it for the purpose of pairing. When this is fulfilled the 

 whole series is repeated in the nests founded by the young impregnated 

 females. In the progress of the several occupations exercised by the 

 different -members, and especially by the neuters, the ants develope 

 striking art and proofs of the great perfection of their instinct. They 

 always select sunny but not too dry places to lay the foundations of 

 their nests, but they always avoid moist situations, and give consider- 



