S66 AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG. 



setting of that luminary. As soon as his first rays begin 

 to shine on the exterior of the nest, the ants that are 

 at the top go below in great haste to rouse their com- 

 panions, whom they strike with their antennae, or, 

 when they do not seem to comprehend them, drag with 

 their jaws to the summit till a swarm of busy labourers 

 fill every passage. These take up the larvas and pupae, 

 which they hastily transport to the upper part of their 

 habitation, where they leave them a quarter of an hour, 

 and then carry them into apartments where they are 

 sheltered from the sun's direct rays^. 



Severe as this constant and unremitted daily labour 

 seems, it is but a small part of what the affection of the 

 working ants leads them readily to undertake. The 

 feeding of the young brood, which rests solely upon 

 them, is a more serious charge. The nest is constantly 

 stored with larvae the year round, during all which 

 time, except in winter when the whole society is torpid, 

 they require feeding several times a day with a viscid 

 half-digested fluid that the workers disgorge into their 

 mouths, which when hungry they stretch out to meet 

 those of their nurses. Add to which, that in an old 

 nest there are generally two distinct broods of different 

 ages requiring separate attention ; and that the obser- 

 vations of Huber make it probable that at one period 

 they require a more substantial food than at another. 

 It is true that the youngest brood at first want but little 

 nutriment : but still, when we consider that they must 

 not be neglected, that the older brood demand inces- 

 sant supplies, and in a well stocked nest amount to 7 or 

 8000 : and that the task of satisfying all these cravings, 



• Ifubeij 74. 



