298 INSECT MISCELLANIES. 



which are, like the preceding, kept imprisoned, though 

 not so strictly, while the males are neglected, and 

 left to perish a few days after their disclosure. The 

 male ants, consequently, are as idle as the males 

 (drones) of a bee-hive ; but not so the females, 

 which are as active as the workers in placing the 

 eggs, larvae, or pupae in the most suitable temperature 

 which the hive affords ; though, after the original esta- 

 blishment of a colony by a single mother, we are 

 not aware that the females ever provide food for the 

 young, or for themselves, a task which is wholly 

 performed by the workers, as well as the buildings or 

 galleries requisite for (he lodgment of the com- 

 munity. 



When the females, deprived (as we have seen in a 

 preceding page) of their wings, are established in the 

 original colony, they lose all desire of making their 

 escape, and though no longer detained prisoners, 

 and dragged about by the workers, yet each, ac- 

 cording to Gould and Huber, is attended by a body- 

 guard, a single ant, accompanying her every where, 

 and providing for her necessities, Kirby and Spence, 

 apparently from mistaking an expression in Huber, 

 tell us that the station of this sentinel ^ is re- 

 markable, it being mounted upon her abdomen, with 

 its posterior legs upon the ground ;' * but we ven- 

 ture to say, that such an occurrence is not, at least, 

 the common order of things, for among the nu- 

 merous instances examined by us, we have never 

 observed anything like this ; and Huber says ex- 

 pressly, that it ' rests upon its abdomen, with its hind 

 legs stretched out.' This sentinel is frequently re- 

 lieved by others, the female never being left by her- 

 self for an instant ; but no sooner does she begin to 

 lay, than her attendants are increased, from ten to 

 fifteen constantly following her, and rendering her 



* Intr. ii, 55. 



