THE FORMICIDE. 203 
larve are hatched, more care than ever is required on the part 
of the laborious insects, for then the ants, which we have noticed 
as able and industrious architects, have to take their turn in the 
nursing ; and certainly more attentive, vigilant, and devoted ser- 
ae 
vants could not be found. 
The little vermiform larva cannot move, but they have the 
instinct to lift up their heads, and to open their mouths, so as to 
receive their subsistence from the jaws of the nurses, and they 
are thus fed like little birds lately hatched. It is not for them- 
selves alone that the ants seek honey, sugary liquids, and the 
juice of fruits, with such avidity, but it is quite as much for the 
larve, to whom these nice things are carried. The particular 
delights of ants are known to everybody; every one complains 
in the country of the constant visits of these insects, and they show 
themselves wherever fruit can be obtained, and where there are 
syrups and sugar. They may be seen upon flowers, the nectaries 
of which they visit for the honey, and they are almost always 
upon the stems of those plants which are crowded with Aphzdes. 
Not that they do any harm to them, on the contrary, they rub 
them gently with their antennez, and then the Affzdes, apparently 
pleased, cause a little drop of sugary liquid to appear at the end 
of the small cylindrical tubes, which are situated at the extremity 
of their bodies. This is what the ants require, and they soon sip 
it up. The Apfides thus act as cows to the ants, and it is very 
remarkable that as yet no one has been able to recognise the use 
that this secretion may be to the Apfzdes themselves. As soon 
as an ant discovers a spot where there is some plunder to be had, 
bands of them will constantly come and visit the place. The ants 
return to the nest gorged with food, and give’up a portion of it, 
which they have retained in their gullet-pouch, to those which 
have remained at home, and especially to the larvae. Hundreds 
of observations have proved that these industrious insects com- 
municate with and understand each other. Frequently they 
may be seen to stop and to touch each other with their antenne, 
and many naturalists have thought that these appendages are 
the special organs of a particular insect language. They may 
be noticed singly or in numbers succouring wounded brethren, 
and leading them to the nest, and when the inhabitants of 
