INTRODUCTION. xh 
would no longer have been astonished at 
their living there without touching the 
provision he tendered them. He saw 
these ants engaged in carrying each 
other, and describes their proceedings in 
his usual lively and agreeable manner, al- 
though unaware of the purport for which 
these insects had assembled. 
M. Latreille confirms the facts brought 
forward by other authors. He notices 
two species of ants destitute of eyes, but 
does not describe their manners. He 
also advances some conjectures to which 
we shall refer hereafter. 
It appears from all the observations 
made to the present day, that we are not 
agreed as to the fate of the males and 
females ; that we know not why certain 
larve should, others should not, spin; 
why among some species we should find 
pupe both naked and enclosed ; that 
we have not sufticiently attended to the 
spirit which reigns in the interior of ant- 
hills, nor to the relation existing between 
the labouring ants and their females ; 
