56 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 



nient when the female begins the important work of 

 oviposition, and carry oif the eggs, of which she lays 

 four or five thousand or more in the course of the year, 

 seems to be their principal office. 



When the female is acknowledged as a mother, the 

 workers begin to pay her a homage very siuiilar to that 

 which the bees render to their queen. All press round 

 her, offer her food, conduct her by her mandibles through 

 the difficult or steep passages of the formicary ; nay, 

 they sometimes even carry her about their city ; — she 

 is then suspended upon their jaws, the ends of which 

 are crossed ; and, being coiled up like the tongue of 

 a butterfly, she is packed so close as to incommode the 

 carrier but little. When she sets her down, others sur- 

 round and caress her, one after another tapping her 

 on the head with their antennse. " In whatever apart- 

 ment," says Gould, "a queen condescends to be pre- 

 sent, she commands obedience and respect. An uni- 

 versal gladness spreads itself through the whole cell, 

 which is expressed by particular acts of joy and exul- 

 tation. They have a particular way of skipping, leap- 

 ing, and standing upon their hind-legs, and prancing 

 with the others. These frolics they make use of, both 

 to congratulate each other when they meet, and to show 

 their regard for the queen ; some of them gently w alk 

 over her, others dance round her ; — she is generally 

 encircled with a cluster of attendants, who, if you se- 

 parate them from her, soon collect themselves into a 

 body, and inclose her in the midst "*." Nay, even if she 

 diies, as if they were unw illing to believe it, they con- 

 tinue sometimes for months the same attentions to hei*^ 



» Gould, p.24— ■ 



