366 AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG. 



particles of salt and sugar, which to an ordinary observer 

 they very much resemble; but the result was constantly 

 in favour of the sagacity of the ants. They invariably se- 

 lected the eggs from whatever materials they were mixed 

 with, and re-arranged them as before 3 . 



New and more severe labours succeed the birth of the 

 young grubs which are disclosed from the eggs after a 

 few days. The working ants are now almost without re- 

 mission engaged in supplying their wants and forwarding 

 their growth. Every evening an hour before sunset they 

 regularly remove the whole brood, as well as the eggs and 

 pupa?, which in an old nest all require attention at the 

 same time, to cells situated lower down in the earth, where 

 they will be safe from the cold; and in the morning they 

 as constantly remove them again towards the surface of 

 the nest. If, however, there is a prospect of cold or wet 

 weather, the provident ants forbear on that day trans- 

 porting their young from the inner cells, aware that their 

 tender frames are unable to withstand an inclement sky. 

 What is particularly worthy of notice in this herculean 

 task, the ants constantly regulate their proceedings by 

 the sun, removing their young according to the~earlier 

 or later rising and setting of that luminary. As soon as 

 his first rays begin to shine on the exterior of the nest, 

 the ants that are at the top go below in great haste to 

 rouse their companions, whom they strike with their an- 

 tennae, or, when they do not seem to comprehend them, 

 drag with their jaws to the summit till a swarm of busy 

 labourers fill every passage. These take up the larvae 

 and pupae, which they hastily transport to the upper part 

 of their habitation, where they leave them a quarter of 

 * Gould, 37. 



