370 AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG. 



of their history which aifords a very affecting example 

 of the self-denial and self-devotion of these admirable 

 creatures. If you have paid any attention to what is 

 going- forward in an ant-hill, you will have observed 

 some larger than the rest, which at first sight appear, 

 as welt" as the workers, to have no wings, but which 

 upon a closer examination exhibit a small portion of 

 their base, or the sockets in which they were inserted. 

 These are females that have cast their wings, not acci- 

 dentally but by a xoluntary act. When an ant of this 

 sex first emerges from the pupa, she is adorned with 

 two pair of wings, the upper or outer pair being larger 

 than her body. With these, when a virgin, she is en- 

 abled to traverse the fields of ether, surrounded by my- 

 riads of the other sex, who are candidates for her favour. 

 But when once connubial rites are celebrated the un- 

 happy husband dies, and the widowed bride seeks only 

 how she may provide for their mutual offspring. Pant- 

 ing no more to join the choir of aerial dancers, her only 

 thought is to construct a subterranean abode in which 

 she may deposit and attend to her eggs, and cherish her 

 embryo young, till, having passed through their various 

 changes, they arrive at their perfect state, and she can 

 devolve upon them a portion of her maternal cares. 

 Her ample wings, which before were her chief orna- 

 ment and the instruments of her pleasure, are now an 

 incumbrance which incommode her in the fulfilment of 

 the great duty uppermost in her mind ; she therefore, 

 without a moment's hesitation, plucks them from her 

 shouluers. Might we not then address females who 

 have families, in words like those of Solomon, " Go to 

 the aut, ye mothers^ consider her ways and be wise? " 



