362 INSECTS THAT LIVE 
intimate and mutual relations, those 
assiduities which the education of the 
young requires, that assemblage of la- 
bours, that love for the country, that 
language, &c. we so much admire in 
these colonies. Every where else, each 
female lives separately. The only rela- 
tions between solitary insects are occa- 
sioned by difference of sex ; but, regard- 
ing those who live in society, we observe, 
a family more or less numerous, more or 
less powerful; all the members of 
which, of whatever order they be, 
understand each other, and yield mutual 
assistance; living, in common, upon the 
provision the workers bring in. This 
constitution is one of the wonders of 
nature; thus has she been pleased to 
establish several kinds of republics upon 
the same principle. 
Among bees and ants, a multitude of 
workers are born each year; but in these 
republics there are but a small num- 
ber of females. Let us now attend to 
those astonishing circumstances with 
