46 HISTORY OF INSECTS. 



animated scene takes place. The ants on the exterior are 

 the first to feel the influence of the warmth : they enter 

 the nest, run along the avenues and galleries to the various 

 chambers, and communicate the intelligence to every ant 

 they meet, tapping one gently with their antennae, and 

 even biting another severely with their mandibles. At 

 last the whole colony seems to partake of the excitement, 

 and each labourer then carefully takes a larva or pupa in 

 its mouth, conveys it through all the winding passages to 

 the outside, and places it in such a position as to receive 

 the rays of the sun. This operation is attended with vast 

 exertion, for the pupae of the females are often more than 

 double the weight of the labourers who carry them, and 

 are not to be conveyed through the long circuitous passa- 

 ges without a labour that appears almost incredible. Not- 

 withstanding, however, the difficulties which have to be 

 overcome in placing the larvae and pupae in this situation, 

 they are seldom allowed to receive the full rays of the sun for 

 a longer time than fifteen or twenty minutes, and are then 

 conveyed into little cells, constructed on the exterior of the 

 nest purposely to receive them, and protected from the too 

 great ardour of the sun's rays, by a slight covering of chaff, 

 stubble, or other light matter. As the heat of the sun de- 

 creases in the afternoon, the larvae and pupae are again 

 fully exposed to it for a short season as before, and are then 

 carefully returned one by one, through the almost intermi- 

 nable passages, each into the identical chamber from which 

 in the morning it was originally brought; and now the 

 time of feeding has arrived, and this duty has to be care- 

 fully performed. 



But it is not only to the sunning and feeding of the larvae 

 that the care of the labourers in their behalf extends. It 

 is an addition of duty to keep the larvae clean, and per- 

 fectly free from all impurities ; and it is an almost incessant 



