108 FECUNDATION OF ANTS. 
arrived at the conviction, that their re- 
turn is one of those fables with which we 
have been a long time amused. What, 
then, becomes of these insects, accus- 
tomed as they they have been, to liveina 
convenient spacious abode, — sheltered 
from every inclemency of the weather, 
and receiving every attention from the 
labourers, suddenly relying upon their 
‘own guidance, deprived of all these ad- 
vantages ? This we shall learn in the 
following section. 
2. History of Winged Ants after Impregnation. 
The history of males, after they have 
discharged the only office to which they 
appear destined, neither offers any 
proof of that courage we should expect 
from their sex, nor of a laborious indus- 
try. We know that in the class of insects 
with four membranous wings, the males 
are destitute of offensive weapons, and do 
not possessthat admirable apparatus which 
the greater part of females put in use in the 
establishment of their family ; they have 
neither chisel-shaped teeth, nor stings, nor 
