EGGS, &c. OF ANTS. 15 
employed on the surface of the ant-hill, 
and others engaged in carrying back the 
larvae, in proportion as the sun declined. 
The moment of nourishing them being at 
length arrived, each ant approached a 
larva, and offered it food. “ The larve of 
ants,” observes M. Latreille, ‘* resemble, 
when they quit the egg, little white worms, 
destitute of feet, thick, short, and in form 
almost conical; their body is composed of 
twelve rings; the anterior part is slender 
and curved. We remark at the head two 
little horny pieces or hooks, too distant 
from each other to be regarded as true 
teeth; under these hooks we observe four 
little points or cé/s, two on each side, and 
a mamelon, or tubercular process, almost 
cylindrical, soft, and retractile, by which 
the larva receives its food.” * 
* What a world of wonders is there not opened 
to our view, in the transformations the insect tribe 
undergo, from the period of their birth, to the full 
and complete development of their several organs. 
Unless well assured of the fact, how could we 
imagine the feeble helpless worm just described 
would ever become the industrious, enterprising 
E2 
