PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 373 



Myrmica fyphlos to carry each an individual beneath the abdomen.^ Thus 

 we hav^e sixteen or seventeen coleopterous insects of different genera and 

 species, besides one or more species of Oniscus, habitually residing in ants' 

 nests ; but whether these, like the Clavigers, are subservient to the pur- 

 poses of the ants, or whether they make the ants subservient to theirs, or 

 what is the precise object of the companionship, must be left for future 

 investigation, and are points to which I would strongly recommend your 

 attention.^ 



When the population exceeds the produce of a country, or its inhab- 

 itants suffer oppression, or are not comfortable in it, emigrations frequently 

 take place, and colonies issue forth to settle in other parts of the globe ; 

 and sometimes whole nations leave their own country, either driven to this 

 step by their enemies, or excited by cupidity to take possession of 

 what appears to them a more desirable residence. These motives ope- 

 rate strongly on some insects of the social tribes. Bees and ants are 

 particularly influenced by them. The former, confined in a narrow hive, 

 when their society becomes too numerous to be contained conveniently in 

 it, must necessarily send forth the redundant part of their population to 

 seek for new quarters ; and the latter — though they usually can enlarge 

 their dwelling to any dimensions which their numbers may require, and 

 therefore do not send forth colonies, unless we may distinguish by that 

 name the departure of the males and females from the nest — are often 

 disgusted with their present habitation, and seek to establish themselves 

 in a new one : — either the near neighborhood of enemies of their own 

 species ; annoyance from frequent attacks of man or other animals ; their 

 exposure to cold or wet from the removal of some species of shelter ; or 

 the discovery of a station better circumstanced or more abundant in aphi- 

 des ; — all these may operate as inducements to them to change their 

 residence. That this is the case might be inferred from the circumstance 

 noticed by Gould^, which I have also partly witnessed myself, that they 

 sometimes transport their young brood to a considerable distance from 

 their home. But M. Huber, by his interesting observations, has placed 

 this fact beyond all controversy ; and his history of their emigrations is 

 enlivened by some traits so singular, that I am impatient to relate them to 

 you. They concern chiefly the great hill-ant (P. rufa), though several 

 other species occasionally emigrate. 



Some of the neuters having found a spot which they judge convenient 

 for a new habitation, apparently without consulting the rest of the society, 

 determine upon an emigration, and thus they compass their intention : — 

 The first step is to raise recruits : with this view they eagerly accost 

 several fellow citizens of their own order, caress them with their antennae, 



1 West wood, Mod, Class, of Lis. ii. 234. 



* As there can be little doubt that several of M. Chevrolat's insects might be found in 

 ants' nests in this country, as well as Claviger foveolatvs, if sought for in the way which 

 this indefatigable entomologist employs, it may not be amiss to indicate his mode of pro- 

 cedure. Before attacking an ants' nest he ties the legs of his pantaloons over his boots and 

 puts on gloves, and then proceeds to shovel the whole contents of the nest (of course to the 

 very bottom) into a bag, of the contents of which be spreads successive portions upon a 

 cloth so as to allow the ants to escape, and afterwards examines what remains at his lei- 

 sure. M. Markel has recently published a memoir on the coleopterous insects fonnd in 

 ants' nests in Saxon Switzerland, amounting to nearly fifty species. (Germar's Zeitschrift, 

 iii. 203.) 



=> Gould, 42. 



32 



