202 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. 
nest is opened early in the spring-time, no winged insects will be 
found, but a multitude of workers, and a few females, which have 
lost their wings; they are readily distinguishable, however, by 
their thick thorax and colour. All the female ants are born with 
wings, and very shortly afterwards they leave home, and fly off 
with a number of males, but they soon settle down to be careful 
and steady housekeepers; for whether they stray back to their 
old nest, or whether they come near to others, they begin to tear 
off their wings, and should any workers be in the neighbourhood 
they assist them in completing this extraordinary operation. 
Nature does not care to perpetuate useless structures, and they 
generally drop off, or become smaller, but in this instance the 
THE LARVA, NYMPH, AND COCOON OF THE RED ANT, 
A larva magnified and of the natural size, seen sideways and from above. The nymph 
seen from below, actual size and magnified. The cocoon of the nymph enlarged, 
and of the natural size. 
ants appear to know that the wings are about to be useless to 
them, for the females will live a perfectly sedentary life for the 
future, consequently they act instead of Nature, and destroy their 
useless organs of flight. The wings of the female ants have 
nervures which are more or less divided close to their origin, so 
that they can be cut through very easily, and without the insect 
suffering any pain. The females begin to lay during the first fine 
days of the year, and their white and very tiny eggs increase 
sensibly in size until the larvae escape from them. The workers 
take wonderful care of the eggs; they place them in special 
chambers, and appear every now and then to lick them, and they 
carry them alternately to the upper and lower stories of the nest, 
and manage so that they are never exposed to too great a heat, 
and that they are kept in a uniform temperature. When the 
