!86 



A.NSPAOH-ANT. 



ANSHAI it (< >nolzhach) ; formerly the residence of 

 tJie margraves of Anspaeh Baireuth. now the chit f 

 town of the Bavarian district of the Kezat ; contains 

 lOlt; hou-es, and lli, 370 inhabitants, \vilh a fine 

 palace, a royal school, and some manufactures. In 

 the garden of the palace stands tin- monument of the 

 poet Uz, who was horn at A., and died there in 1796. 

 The last margrave ceded the marquisate or principa- 

 lity of A. to Frederic William II., king of Pru-sia, 

 Deo. >, 1791. His wife was lady Craven. Frederic 

 William III. ceded A., in 1806, to France, and she 

 exchanged it with Bavnriu for Jtiliers and Berg. 

 Prussia gave up, also, Baireuth, in 18O7, at the peace 

 of Tilsit, to France, and France transferred it to Ba- 

 varia. In the time when Anspach and Baireuth were 

 under the French government, Bernadotte, the pre- 

 sent king of Sweden, was their governor, and gained 

 the love of all the inhabitants, by his strict justice, 

 even where French soldiers were concerned, and by 

 his endra\ours to alleviate, as much as possible, the 

 e\ iK of war. His conduct presented a striking con- 

 trast to that of several other French governors of 

 conquered provinces under Napoleon. 



A.wi K.V, Christopher, an ingenious poet of the 18th 

 century, was the son of the reverend Christopher 

 Anstey, I). D., and born in 1724. He was educated 

 at Bury St Edmond's, whence he removed to Eton. 

 In 1754, he succeeded to his patrimonial property, 

 when he married Ann, daughter of Felix Calvert, 

 Esq., of Albury Hall, Herts, by whom he had thirteen 

 children, eight of whom survived him. He then re- 

 sided, for the most part, at Bath. He had long cul- 

 tivated poetry, but most of his early productions were 

 Latin translations of English popular poems, one of 

 which was Gray's Elegy. It was not until 1766, that 

 his humorous production, the New Bath Guide, was 

 published, which at once became highly popular for 

 its pointed and original humour, and, as usual, led to 

 numerous imitations. He also wrote several other 

 pieces, which are incorporated in an edition of his 

 entire works, edited by his sou. He died in 1805, 

 in his 81st year. 



ANT (formica, L.), a genus of hymenopterous or 

 membranous- winged insects, l)elongs to Cuvier's 

 second section, aculeata ; family, heterogyna. This 

 race of insects, celebrated from all antiquity for sin- 

 gular instincts, industry, and foresight, would require 

 a volume for the enumeration of an the curious and 

 interesting circumstances observed by various natura- 

 lists, who have devoted themselves to their investi- 

 gation. But as such amplitude and minuteness of 

 detail are inconsistent with the present work, our 

 remarks will lie confined to essentials. To the works 

 of Swammerdam, Reaumur, and, most especially, 

 Huber, we must refer those who desire to be particu- 

 larly informed on the subject : the last-named author 

 has, in his work on ants, rivalled his father's justly 

 celebrated treatise on bees, and bestowed upon lovers 

 of natural science a gift as precious as it is rare. 

 Most of the species live in large companies or so- 

 cieties, composed of three sorts of individuals, males, 

 females, and neuters. The males and females have 

 long wings, not so much veined as in other insects of 

 the same section, which are very temporary ; the 

 neuters, which are actually females with imperfect 

 ovaries, are destitute of wings. The males and fe- 

 males are found in the vicinity of their habitation but 

 a short time, as they speedily mount into the air, 

 where their sexual connexion is consummated, after 

 which the males perish, and return no more to their 

 former dwelling; while the impregnated females, 

 alighting on the ground, detach their wings by the 

 aid of their feet, and commence the great work of 

 their existence, the deposition of their eggs for the 



continuance of the species. Some of the females, 

 which couple in the vicinity of the ant hill, are fre- 

 quently seized upon l>y the numerous neuters, car- 

 ritd liaek into the galleries of their dwelling, and 

 detained until they destroy their wings, and lay 

 their eggs ; after which they cease to be of conse- 

 quence, and are driven forth. The males are much 

 smaller than the females, and have larger eyes, 

 though the head and mandibles are proportionally 

 smaller. The neuters have neither wings nor smooth 

 eyes; their heads are large, their jaws strong, and 

 their corselet compressed, or even knotty ; their feet 

 proportional. These neuters perform all the labours 

 of the ant hill ; they excavate the galleries, procure 

 food, and wait upon the larves until they are fit to 

 leave their cells, appearing always industrious and 

 solicitous. They are apparently endowed with the 

 power of communicating to each other the result oi 

 their searches after food, and thus obtain the co-ope- 

 ration of several, where the strength of an individual 

 would be insufficient. They feed the larves, or young 

 ants, which are destitute of organs of motion, with 

 materials which they disgorge from their own mouths, 

 and which seem to have undergone some preparation 

 in their stomachs. In fine weather, they carefully 

 convey them to the surface for the benefit of the sun's 

 heat, and as attentively carry them to a place of safety, 

 either when bad weather is threatened, or the ant hill 

 is disturbed. In like manner they watch over the 

 safety of the nymphs or larves about to acquire their 

 perfect growth, some of which are in cocoons, and 

 some uncovered. When the time arrives at which 

 the former are to undergo the final change, they tea. 

 open the cocoons to permit them to escape. If the 

 weather be unfavourable, they detain those which 

 have acquired their wings till a suitable opportunity 

 offers, and then aid them to gain their liberty by the 

 easiest route. There is a very considerable variety 

 in the ant hills, or nests, according to the peculiar 

 nature or instinct of the species. The greater num- 

 ber make their nests in the earth, under buildings, 

 &c., where they excavate extensive galleries for the 

 reception of their young ; and of these the dwelling 

 is almost entirely concealed. But others build their 

 hills or nests of various substances, and form cones or 

 domes of considerable size above ground. Some, 

 again, prefer the trunks of old trees, in which they 

 form the most singular labyrinths, leading to the cells 

 where the progeny are to be reared. These nests, 

 whether above or under ground, have common- 

 ly a strong and sour odour, which arises from the 

 acid secreted by some of them from glands placed 

 near the anus. This acid, once supposed to be of 

 peculiar character, but now considered as acetic 

 acid, is known by the name of formic, or acid of ants. 

 One among the most curious circumstances connected 

 with the general history of ants, is the exception to 

 the general rale relative to the occupants of nests 

 being individuals of the same species. Huber first 

 observed, and his observations have since been am- 

 ply confirmed, that the reddish, Amazon or sanguine- 

 ous ant resorts to violence to obtain working ants, 

 of other species, for their own use, thus actually 

 making slaves of those they carry off to their 

 nests. The neuters of these Amazons, regularly 

 about the same hour, when the heat of the day be- 

 gins to diminish, and for several successive days, 

 advance in a dense mass towards the ant hill they de- 

 sign to plunder ; there, in spite of all the opposition 

 made, they enter, seize on the larves and nymphs 

 peculiar to this species, and carry them off to their 

 own nest, where other neuters of the same species, 

 but of full growth, take care of these kidnapped in- 

 dividuals, as well as of the offspring of their van- 



