PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 57 



and treat her with the same courtly fonnallty as if she 

 were alive, and they will brush her and lick her inces- 

 santly ^ 



This homage paid by the workers to their queens, 

 according to Gould, is temporary and local ; — when 

 she has laid eggs in any cell, their attentions, he ob- 

 served, seemed to relax, and she became unsettled and 

 uneasy. In the summ.er months she is to be met with 

 in varions apartments in thcicolony ; and eggs also are 

 to be seen in several places, which induced him to be- 

 lieve that, having deposited a parcel in one, she re- 

 tires to another for the same purpose, thus frequently 

 changing her situation and attendants. As there are 

 always a number of lodgements void of eggs but full 

 of ants, she is never at a loss for an agreeable station 

 and submissive retinue ; and by the time she has gone 

 her rounds in this manner, the eggs first laid are brought 

 to perfection, and her old attendants are glad to re- 

 ■ceive her again. Yet this'inattention after oviposition 

 *is not invariable ; the female and neuters sometimes 

 unite together in the same cell after the eggs are laid. 

 On this occasion the workers divide their attention ; 

 and if you disturb them, some will run to the defence 

 of their queen, as well as of the eggs, which last, how- 

 ever, are the great objects of their solicitude. This 

 statement differs somewhat from M. Huber's ; but dif- 

 ferent species vary in their instincts, which will ac- 

 count for this and similar dissonances in authors who 

 have observed their proceedings. Mr. Gould also no- 

 ticed but very few females in ant-nests, sometimes only 

 one ; but M. IJuber, who had better opportunities, 



* Compare Gould p. 25, with Iliibcr 125, note (1.) 



