PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 77 



pupae* ; these they educate in their own nests, till they 

 arrive at their perfect state, when they undertake all 

 the business of the society. In the following account 

 I shall chiefly conline myself to what Huber relates of 

 the first of these species, and conclude my extracts with 

 his history of an expedition of the latter to procure 

 slaves. 



The rufescent ants^ do not leave their nests to go 

 upon these expeditions, wliich last about ten weeks, 

 till the males are ready to emerge into the perfect 

 state ; and it is very remarkable, that if any individuals 

 attempt to stray abroad earlier, they are detained by 

 their slaves, who will not suffer them to proceed. A 

 wonderful provision of the Creator to prevent the black 

 colonies from being pillaged when they contain only 

 male and female brood, which would be their total de- 

 struction, without being any benefit to their assailants, 

 to whom neuters alone are useful. 



Their time of sallying forth is from two in the after- 

 noon till five, but more generally a little before five ; 

 the weather, however, must be fine, and the thermo- 

 meter (Reaumur's) must stand at above 16° in the 



" It is not clear that our Willughby had not some knowledge of this 

 extraordinary fact; for in his description of ant?, speaking of their cr.re 

 of their pupae, he says, " that they also carry the nurelice of others into their 

 nests, as if they were their own." Rai. Jlist. Ins. G9. — Gould remarks con- 

 cerning the hill-ant, " This species is very rapacious after the vernticks 

 and nymphs of other ants. If you place a parcel before or near their 

 colonies, they will, with remarkable greediness, seize and carry them olT." 

 91, note *. Query — Do they this to devour them, or educate them? 

 White made the same observation, Nat. Hist. ii. 278. 



^ This species forms a kind of link which connects LatrciUe's two jre- 

 nera Formica and Myrmica, bon(»n iiig the abdominal squama from the 

 former, and the sting from the latter. 



