66 EGGS, &c. OF ANTS. 
I did not, however, always keep to 
these artificial means. I compared, as 
often as possible, the conduct of my pri- 
soners, with that of those ants inhabiting 
and ranging about the fields, and as I 
never remarked any sensible difference in 
their manner of acting, I concluded I 
could trust the results obtained by means 
of my glazed apparatus. 
Let us now open the shutter which 
conceals from us the interior of the ant- 
hill, and let us see what is passing 
there. 
Here, the pups are heaped up by 
hundreds in their spacious lodges ; there, 
the larvee are collected together, and 
guarded by workers. In one place, we 
observe an assemblage of eggs, in another 
place, some of the workers seem occupied 
in following an ant of a larger size than 
the rest ; — this is the mother, or at least 
one of the females, for there are always 
several in each ant-hill ; — she lays as she 
walks, and the guardians, by whom she is 
surrounded, take up her eggs, or seize 
