INTRODUCTION. XXXVil 
development. In truth, if we consider 
the form of their head and their teeth, 
the number of the joints or articulations 
in their antenne, the number of their 
rings, the presence of the sting, or that of 
the venom-bag which replaces it, we 
shall be struck with the similarity exist- 
ing between these two orders. The 
workers are much smaller than the fe- 
males ; they also differ in the form of the 
corslet, in the absence of wings, and in 
colour. Some of the males are smaller, 
others larger than the workers of their 
species ; their corslet is shaped like that 
of the females; the scale or knots are of 
great similarity in all the individuals of 
each family: the males are commonly of 
a blackish hue. 
Our knowledge of the manners and 
habits of ants is extremely limited, con- 
sisting only of a small assemblage of de- 
tached facts, and of a few assertions, 
sufficiently vague, which I shall discuss 
in their proper place. In the list of mo- 
dern authors who have contributed to 
