-EcGs, &c. OF ANTS. 87 
speedy liberation, some raised up the 
portion or bandalette cut out in the 
length of the cocoon; whilst others drew 
it gently from its imprisonment. When 
the ant was extricated from its envelop- 
ing membrane, it was not, like other in- 
sects, capable of enjoying its freedom, 
and taking flight: nature did not will 
it that it should so soon be independent 
of the labourers. It could neither fly, 
nor walk, nor without difficulty stand ; 
for the body was still confined by another 
membrane, from which it could not, by 
its own exertions, disengage itself. 
In this fresh embarrassment, the la- 
bourers did not forsake it; they removed 
the satin-like pellicle which embraced 
pup were then brought up, and laid on the surface 
of the earth, from day to day, to receive the sun’s 
warmth. In a few days, I saw the scattered rem~ 
nants of one of the cocoons, and the worker with 
his assistant engaged in giving liberty to the re- 
maining ants. I did not, at the time, notice whether 
the pupe were or were not capable of effecting 
their own liberation; but according to the state- 
ment of De Geer, the pupa dies when neglected 
by the workers. — T. 
