AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOB THEIR YOUNG. 36? 



an hour, and then carry them into apartments where 

 they are sheltered from the sun's direct rays 3 . 



Severe as this constant and unrernitted daily labour 

 seems, it is but a small part of what the affection of the 

 working ants leads them readily to undertake. Thejeed- 

 ing of the young brood, which rests solely upon them, 

 is a more serious charge. The nest is constantly stored 

 with larvae the year round, during all which time, except 

 in winter when the whole society is torpid, they require 

 feeding several times a day with a viscid half-digested 

 fluid that the workers disgorge into their mouths, which 

 when hungry they stretch out to meet those of their nurses. 

 Add to which," that in an old nest there are generally two 

 distinct broods of different ages requiring separate atten- 

 tion ; and that the observations of Huber make it pro- 

 bable that at one period they require a more substantial 

 food than at another. It is true that the youngest brood 

 at first want but little nutriment : but still, when we con- 

 sider that they must not be neglected, that the older 

 brood demand incessant supplies, and in a well stocked 

 nest amount to 7 or 8000 ; and that the task of satisfy- 

 ing all these cravings, as well as providing for their own 

 subsistence, falls to the lot of the working ants, we are 

 almost ready to regard the burthen as greater than can 

 be borne by such minute agents ; and we shall not won- 

 der at the incessant activity with which we see them 

 foraging on every side. 



Their labour does not end here. It is necessary that 

 the larvae should be kept extremely clean ; and for this 

 purpose the ants are perpetually passing their tongue and 

 mandibles over their body, rendering them by this means 

 perfectly white b . After the young grubs have attained 

 Huber, 74. * Huber, 78. 



