208 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. 



tubular hairs, which the ants are very fond of hcking, and they 

 thus appear to have some special secretion which pleases their 

 hosts. It is a very remarkable fact that the larvae of these 

 beetles cannot take their own nourishment, but they receive it 

 from the mouths of the ants, and these extraordinary little 

 beings thus have the instinct to nourish and to keep alive the 

 beetle larvae, which afford them some pleasant luxury. 



There are some ants with arched mandibles, which are narrow 

 and sharp, and which resemble warlike weapons rather than imple- 

 ments of work. They belong to the genus Polycrgus. The 

 common species of this genus, Polyergiis riifesccns, is a small 

 insect about a quarter of an inch long, and is a warrior, and does 

 not care for building or any such trouble. It inhabits under- 

 ground nests, where the brown and mining ants are found, but it 

 does not make its own places of refuge, as it has no structures 

 with which it can work, so it captures the workers of other colonies 

 and employs them as slaves. Huber describes a curious scene 

 in the life history of these ants, which he sav/ in the neighbour- 

 hood of Geneva in 1804. He observed a great mass of ants 

 which were red or russet in colour, and of tolerably large size, 

 traversing a road. They marched in a body, and with great 

 rapidity, and they took up a space of from eight to ten feet 

 in length by three or four inches in breadth, and they 

 passed over the road in a very few minutes, penetrated 

 through a thick hedge, and moved on to a grass field, over 

 which they marched in regular array, in spite of numerous 

 obstacles which came in their way. They soon came near a nest 

 of blackish coloured ants, which was situated about twenty paces 

 from the hedge, the dome of it being higher than the grass. 

 Several ants were round about the door of their nest, and im- 

 mediately that they observed the approaching army they rushed 

 upon the head of the column ; the alarm was given within, and a 

 crowd came out from the underground Avorks. The red ants 

 quickened their pace, and soon pushed the black ones into their 

 nest, they then clambered up the dome of the nest, many forcing 

 themselves into the largest avenues, whilst others worked hard 

 with their mandibles, so as to open a breach in the walls. This 

 was soon done, and the rest of the invading army penetrated 



