176° RELATION BETWEEN ANTS. 
respect to bees : it is well known, that we 
may divide ants ‘in the middle of their 
body, without taking from them the desire 
of defending their domicile, that the head 
and corslet, although separated from 
the abdomen, still continue in mo- 
tion, and that, in this state, the ant 
will convey the pupe to their asy- 
lum.* Thus the great secret of the 
* This can scarcely be adduced as an instance of 
the affection of this insect for the young confided to 
its care; for had it been engaged in any other 
operation, it is most likely it would have continued 
it until its strength totally failed. It is well known 
that many insects, after the loss of their principal 
members, still continue their customary avocations. 
I have myself seen a wasp walking (seemingly un- 
concerned), about a sugar-hogshead, three hours 
after its abdomen had been removed. Fothergill, 
if I mistake not, threw his hat at a dragon-fly 
( Libellula), and by accident separated its body. It 
made several efforts, but ineffectually, from want of 
its proper counterpoise, to take flight. Whilst it 
was in this state a fly was presented to it, which it 
devoured very greedily. The common caterpillar 
(Melolontha vulgaris) will continue to walk about 
even when deprived of half its entrails. Dr. Arnold, 
after transfixing an insect (Scolia quadrimaculata) 
with a pin, placed it in a box with other insects, 
where it afterwards got loose, and notwithstanding 
