HYMENOPTERA. 385 



pense with their good offices. These workers, when provisions fail, 

 or when the ant-hill is threatened with any great danger, take in 

 their mandibles the eg^s, the larvae, the pupae, and sometimes those 

 females and the males which refuse to follow them. Thus laden, they go 

 their way, to seek for another country they may call their own. They 

 never forget, in their hurried emigrations, the infirm or sick workers, 

 which would perish in the house now abandoned and deserted. 



The males and females lately hatched do not enjoy the same 

 liberty as the young workers. They are confined to the ant-hill, 

 where they are kept in sight till the day of the general departure. 

 It is towards the end of the month of August that swarms of winged 

 ants of both sexes are seen to issue forth. The males come out first, 

 agitating their iridescent and transparent wings. The females, less 

 numerous, follow them closely. All of a sudden one sees this troop 

 raise itself at a given signal, and disappear in the air, where the 

 coupling takes place. The males perish immediately afterwards. The 

 females impregnated return to the paternal home, or else found new 

 colonies with the assistance of a few workers who are their escort. 

 From this moment they no longer require wings. The workers make 

 haste to cut them off, or, indeed, which oftenest happens, they them- 

 selves tear them off. With their wings they lose the desire for liberty. 

 Henceforward, they will quit their retreat no more, the cares of their 

 approaching maternity now alone occupying them. The working ants 

 reserve for them subterranean chambers, where they are kept in sight 

 by the sentinels. At certain hours only are they to be met with in 

 the upper storeys. When they wish to walk, a company of guards 

 presses round them on all sides so as to prevent them from advancing 

 too quickly. There are no sorts of attentions they do not heap upon 

 them to make them forget their captivity. They caress them, brush 

 them, lick them, they offer them food continually. On the least 

 appearance of danger, the workers take possession, first of all, of the 

 pregnant females, and drag them out by the secret outlets, so as to 

 put in a place of safety their precious persons, the hope of the com- 

 munity. The workers' task is immense, for their labours increase in 

 the same proportion as the population increases. But the division of 

 work and the good understanding which exists between the members 

 of the community, allow them to be prepared for anything that may 

 happen, and to supply all their necessities. 



Nothing is more amusing than to observe the shifts ants are put 

 to in transporting objects of great size. They stumble, they tumble 

 head over heels, they roll down precipices ; but, in spite of all acci- 

 dents, return to their task, and always accomplish it. 



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