328 INSECT TRANSFORMATIONS. 



antennae ; for these organs are endowed with a sensi- 

 bility of which it would be difficult to form a just 

 idea : whatever it be, they are never deceived. 



" Let us slill follow them in that labour in which 

 are displayed a zeal and attachment that would justly 

 merit our attention, even were they the real parents 

 of these pupae ; how much greater then must be our 

 astonishment, when we consider that they bear no 

 further relation to them than that of being born under 

 the same roof. Several males and females lay in 

 their envelopes in one of the largest cavities of my 

 glazed ant-hill. The labourer-ants assembled toge- 

 ther and appeared to be in continual motion around 

 them. I noticed three or four mounted upon one of 

 these cocoons, endeavouring to open it with their 

 teeth at that extremity answering to the head of the 

 pupa. They began to thin it by tearing away some 

 threads of silk where they wished to pierce it, and at 

 length, by dint of pinching and biting this tissue, so 

 extremely difficult to break, they formed in it a vast 

 number of apertures. They afterwards attempted to 

 enlarge these openings, by tearing or drawing away 

 the silk ; but these efforts proving ineffectual, they 

 passed one of their mandibles into the cocoon through 

 the apertures they had formed, and by cutting each 

 thread, one after the other with great patience, at 

 length effected a passage, of a line in diameter, in the 

 superior part of the web. They now uncovered the 

 head and feet of the prisoner, to which they were de- 

 sirous of giving liberty, but, before they could effect 

 its release, it was absolutely necessary to enlarge the 

 opening. For this purpose these guardians cut out 

 a portion in the longitudinal direction of the cocoon, 

 with their teeth alone, employing these instruments 

 as we are in the habit of employing a pair of scissors. 

 A considerable degree of agitation prevailed in this 

 part of the ant-hill. A number of labourer-ants were 



