of thighs, and tips of tarsi, pale piceous : wings with a slight yellowish- 

 brown tinge, nervurcs and stigma darker. 



Z^ewa/e ferruginous, top of head and disc of thorax and scutel subpiceous, 

 hinder part of thorax flat and oblique ; scale somewhat obtrigonate, with 

 the angles rounded : abdomen very glossy, bright pitchy-aeneous, margin 

 of the base and bands beneath ferruginous: wings ochreous-brown, 

 lighter towards the tips. 



Neuter dull pitchy : head thorax and scale ferruginous : crown chan- 

 neled, the whole dull pitchy, clypeus and sides bright ferruginous, a 

 purplish brown spot on the disc of the thorax, and a smaller one on the 

 scutel : base of abdomen sometimes ochreous : legs often inclining to cas- 

 taneous, trochanters ferruginous. 



The history of the industrious and provident ant has been 

 familiar to every one from the earliest ages, and the more re- 

 cent researches of Huber on this subject are highly interest- 

 ing. I am sorry that a summary of their oeconomy is the ut- 

 most that my space will afford, but the amusing account given 

 b}^ Kirby and Spence will supply the deficiency. 



Each species of ant comprises three different sorts, namely, 

 the males, females, and neuters: there are sometimes two va- 

 rieties of these last, varying in size : they form nests in the 

 earth or under stones, and their sagacity, their unceasing in- 

 dustry, their perseverance in overcoming difficulties, and the 

 care they evince for their progeny, are wonderful, and well 

 deserving the attention of man. 



The female ant lays from 4000 to 5000 eggs; those of the 

 neuters are the smallest; they produce maggots that live a 

 twelvemonth or upwards ; these become pupae, in which state 

 the males and neuters remain 4 and the females 6 weeks ; they 

 are inclosed in oval whitish cocoons, which are erroneously 

 called ants' eggs, and it is these we see them carrying off' to 

 a place of security when they are disturbed; the ants also 

 bring them to the surface for warmth, or heap them up in the 

 nests. The males and females are generally few in number 

 compared to the workers, yet they are occasionally found in 

 myriads ; the latter are often deprived of their wings, being 

 pulled off* either by themselves or by the neuters, in order that 

 they may not depart from the nest, and they then work like 

 neuters. Gould says this does not happen till they become 

 mothers. Ants are chiefly nourished by the saccharine fluid 

 from Aphides (pi. 576 and 577), and they remain in their 

 nests through the winter in a torpid state. The males and 

 females swarm from Midsummer to Michaelmas, and the neu- 

 ters bite with their serrated jaws, but none of the British species 

 sting. Of these, eleven have been recorded in the Guide, 

 but I have only seen indigenous examples of 5 of them. The 

 species figured forms a large nest of straws, sticks, leaves, and 

 other convenient materials : they are very partial to oak-woods 

 and fir-groves, the leaves of the coniferae supplying them with 

 admirable and very portable building materials : they seem to 

 be at work day and night from March to the end of October : 

 the males and females are conmionly found in June and July. 



