AFFECTION OF INSECTS POR THEIR YOUNG. 365 



place in separate apartments*, and constantly tend un- 

 til hatched into larvaB; frequently in the course of the 

 day removing them from one quarter of the nest to an- 

 other, as they require a warmer or cooler, a moister 

 or drier atmosphere ; and at intervals brooding over 

 them as if to impart a genial warmth''. Experiments 

 have been made to ascertain wliether these assiduous 

 nurses could distinguish their eggs if intermixed with 

 particles of salt and sugar, which to an ordinary ob- 

 server they very much resemble ; but the result was 

 constantly in favour of the sagacity of the ants. They 

 invariably selected the eggs from whatever materials 

 they were mixed with, and re-arranged them as before'. 

 New and more severe labours succeed the birth of 

 the young grubs which are disclosed from the eggs after 

 a few days. The working ants are now almost without 

 remission engaged in supplying their wants and for- 

 warding their growth. Every evening an hour before 

 sunset they regularly remove the whole brood, as well 

 as the eggs and pupae, which in an old nest all require 

 attention at the same time, to cells situated lower down 

 in the earth, where they will be safe from the cold ; and 

 in the morning they as constantly remove them again 

 towards the surface of the r.est. If, however, there is 

 a prospect of cold or wet weather, the provident ants 

 forbear on that day transporting their young from the 

 inner cells, aware that their tender fxames are unable 

 to withstand an inclement sky. What is particularly 

 worthy of notice in this herculean task, the ants con- 

 stantly regulate their proceedings by the sun, removing 

 their young according to the earlier or later rising and 



* HubtT, 69. " De Cecr, ii. 1099. ' (ioiild, 37, 



