ORIGIN OF AN ANTS' NEST. 31 



up the larvae by acting as mother and nurse at the same 

 time.' 



This, however, is not a correct version of what 

 Huber says. His words are : — ' I enclosed several females 

 in a vessel full of light humid earth, with which they 

 constructed lodges, where they resided, some singly, 

 others in common. They laid their eggs and took great 

 care of them ; and notwithstanding the inconvenience 

 of not being able to vary the temperature of their habi- 

 tation, they reared some, which became larvae of a 

 tolerable size, but which soon perished from the effect 

 of my own negligence.' ^ 



It will be observed that it was the eggs, not the 

 larvae, which, according to Huber, these isolated females 

 reared. It is true that he attributes the early and uni- 

 form death of the larvae to his own negligence, but the 

 fact remains that in none of his observations did an 

 isolated female bring her offspring to maturity. 



Other entomologists, especially Forel and Ebrard, 

 have repeated the same observations with similar results; 

 and as yet in no single case had an isolated female been 

 known to bring her young to maturity. Forel even 

 thought himself justified in concluding, from his ob- 

 servations and from those of Ebrard, that such a fact 

 could not occur. 



Lepeletier de St. Fargeau ^ was of opinion that ants' 

 nests originate in the second mode indicated above, and 



' Natural History of Ants, Huber, p. 121. 



* Hist. Nat. des Ins. Hymcnoptercs, vol. i. p. 113. 



