6 STAGES IN THE LIFE OF ANTS — EGGS. 



keep a few alive by themselves in captivity, and at 

 any rate their habits under such circumstances are 

 entirely altered. If, on the other hand, a whole com- 

 munity is kept, then the greater number introduces a 

 fresh element of difficulty and complexity. Moreover, 

 even individuals of the same species seem to dififer 

 in character, and the same individual will behave 

 very differently under different circumstances. Al- 

 though, then, ants have attracted the attention of many 

 of the older naturalists, — Gould, De Geer, Reaumur, 

 Swammerdam, Latreille, Leuwenhoeck, Huber, — and 

 have recently been the objeet of interesting obser- 

 vations by Frederick Smith, Belt, Moggridge, Bates, 

 Mayr, Emery, Forel, McCook, and others, they still 

 present one of the most promising fields for observation 

 and experiment. 



The life of an ant falls into four well-marked 

 periods — those of the egg, of the larva or grub, of the 

 pupa or chrysalis, and of the perfect insect or imago. 

 The eggs are white or yellowish, and somewhat elon- 

 gated. They are hatched about fifteen days after being 

 laid. Those observed by me have taken a month or 

 six weeks. 



The larvse of ants (PI. V. fig. 3), lilie those of 

 bees and wasps, are small, wliite, legless grubs, some 

 what conical in form, narrowing towards the head. 

 They are carefully tended and fed, being carried about 

 from chamber to chamber by the workers, probably in 

 order to secvure the most suitable amount of warmth 



