AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG. 243 



food excepted, require as much attention as in the larva state. Every 

 morning they are transported from the bottom of the nest to the surface, 

 and every evening returned to their former quarters. And if, as is often 

 the case, the nest be thrown into ruins by the unlucky foot of a passing 

 animal, in addition to all these daily and hourly avocations is superadded 

 the immediate necessity of collecting the pupae from the earth with which 

 they have been mixed, and of restoring the nest to its pristine state. ^ 



Nothing can be more curious than the view of the interior of a fully 

 peopled ants' nest in summer. In one part are stored the eggs ; in another 

 the pupae are heaped up by hundreds in spacious apartments ; and in a 

 third we see the larvae surrounded by the workers, some of which feed 

 them, while others keep guard, standing erect upon their hind legs with 

 their abdomen elevated in the position for ejaculating their acid, than 

 which, gunpowder would not be more formidable to the majority of their 

 foes. Some again are occupied in cleaning the alleys from obstructions of 

 various kinds ; and others rest in perfect repose, recruiting their strength 

 for new labors. 



Contrary to what is observed amongst other insects, even the extrication 

 of the young ants from the silken cocoon which encloses them is imposed 

 upon the workers, who are taught by some sensation to us incomprehensi- 

 ble, that the perfect insect is now ready to burst from the shroud, but too 

 weak to effect its purpose unaided. When the workers discover that this 

 period has arrived, a great bustle prevails in their apartment. Three or 

 four mount upon one cocoon, and with their mandibles begin to open it 

 where the head lies. First they pull off a few threads to render the place 

 thinner ; they then make several small openings, and with great patience 

 cut the threads which separate them one by one, till an orifice is formed 

 sufficiently large for extracting the prisoner ; which operation they perform 

 with the utmost gentleness. The ant is still enveloped in its pellicle ; this 

 the workers also pull off, carefully disengaging every member from its case, 

 and nicely expanding the wings of such as are furnished with them. After 

 thus liberating and afterwards feeding the new-born insects, they still for 

 several days watch and follow them every«where, teaching them to unravel 

 the paths and winding labyrinths of the common habitation^ ; and when 

 the males and females at length take flight, these affectionate stepmothers 

 accompany them, mounting with them to the summit of the highest herbs, 

 showing the most tender solicitude for them (some even endeavor to retain 

 them), feeding them for the last time, caressing them ; and at length, when 

 they rise into the air and disappear, seeming to linger for some seconds 

 over the footsteps of these favored beings, of whom they have taken such 

 exemplary care, and whom they will never behold again.^ 



In the above account, exclusive of the bare fact of their laying the 

 eggs, no mention is made of the female ants, the real parents of the 

 republic. You are not from this to suppose that they never feel the 



1 The Russian shepherds ingeniously avail themselves of the attachment of ants to their 

 young, for obtaining with little trouble a collection of the pupse, which they sell as a dain- 

 ty food for nightingales. They scatter an af»ts' nest upon a dry plot of ground, surrounded 

 with a shallow trench of water, and place on one side of it a few fir branches. Under 

 these the ants, having no other alternative, carefully arrange all their pupae, and in an 

 hour or two the shepherd finds a large heap clean and ready for market. Anderson's Re- 

 creations in Agriculture, &c. iv. 158. 



2 Huber, 83. s Ibid. 93. 



