32 



BRITISH ANTS. 



letter S, so that they act as springs, and prevent the delicate skin 

 of the larva from being injured. Thus should an ant quickly seize 

 a larva to remove it from its anchorage, the spring expands, and 

 allows the hair to become unhooked without too great a jerk. 



Huber and F. Smith stated that ant-larvae were more thickly 

 clothed with hairs in the winter ; this, however, seems very doubt- 

 ful, and in my observations all young larvae are more hairy than 

 older ones, being equally so in those species which only rear larvae 

 in the summer, as in those which rear them in the winter. With 

 some species larvae are present practically all the year round. 



Ants chiefly feed their larvae with liquid food which is regurgi- 



Fig. 44. Hairs on My r mica larva. 



tated into their mouths, but they also supply them with bits of 

 insects, larvae, eggs, etc. ; the more solid food being placed by 

 the workers on the bodies of their nurslings or actually held to 

 their mouths that they may feed upon it. Great attention is paid 

 by the nurses to their charges, as they not only feed them, but also 

 continually clean and lick them, and carry them about. The 

 length of time occupied in the larval state varies considerably, 

 both with species and individuals ; it may last for only a few 

 weeks, or for many months, or even for over three years, but this 

 extreme length of time is probably due to extraordinary circum- 

 stances. 



Larvae which hatch from parthenogenetic eggs, take longer to 

 develop than do those from fertile ones. 



Pupae. Ant pupae are either naked, or enclosed in a cocoon, 

 the latter being invariably present in the Ponerinae, often in the 



