20 



Crcatfurg at Natural $| 



I having the extremities of each armed with 



I two small claws, which assist the insect in 



1 climbing. The body is of a brown chesnut 



colour, shining like glass, and covered with 



extremely fine hair. From this formation, 



it would appear, the Ant seems bolder and 



more active than any other creature of the 



insect tribe of the same size ; and, indeed, 



it possesses sufficient intrepidity to attack an 



animal many times larger than itself. 



The nests of Ants are differently con- 

 structed in the different species, but all are 

 very curiously and regularly arranged. " If 

 an Ant-hill," says Mr. Broderip, " be ex- 

 amined any time after Midsummer up to 

 the close of Autumn, there may be seen 

 mixed with the wingless workers a number 

 of both males and females furnished with 

 white glistening wings. These, however, are 

 neither kings nor queens in the state, at 

 least so far as freedom of action is concerned, 

 for they are not allowed to move without a 

 guard of workers to prevent their leaving 

 the boundaries ; and if one straggles away 

 unawares, it is for the most part dragged 

 back by the vigilant sentinels, three or four 

 of whom may. in such cases, be seen hauling 

 along a single deserter by the wings and 

 limbs. The workers, so far from ever facilitat- 

 ing the exit, much less the departure of the 

 winged ones, more particularly the females, 

 guard them most assiduously in order to pre- 

 vent it, and are only forced to acquiesce in 

 it when the winged ones become too numerous 

 to be either guarded or fed. There seems, in- 

 deed, to be a uniform disposition in thewinged 

 ones to desert their native colony ; and as 

 they never return after pairing, it would soon 

 become depopulated in the absence of females. 

 The actual pairing does not seem to take 

 place within the ant-hill, and we have ob- 

 served scouts posted all around ready to dis- 

 cover and carry back to the colony as many 

 fertile females as they could meet with. It 

 is probable that, soon after pairing, the males 

 die, as do the males of bees and other in- 

 sects ; for, as the workers never bring any 

 of them back, nor take any notice of them 

 after leaving the ant-hill, they must perish, 

 being entirely defenceless, and destitute both 

 of a sting and of mandibles to provide for 

 their subsistence. The subsequent proceed- 

 ings of females are very different, and of 

 curious interest. It was supposed by the 

 ancients that all Ants, at a certain age, ac- 

 quired wings ; but it was reserved for the 

 younger Huber, in particular, by means of 

 his artificial formicaries, to trace the de- 

 velopment of the wings in the female from 

 the first commencement, till he saw them 

 stript off and laid aside like cast clothes." 



" Having directed my close attention to 

 the eggs of ants," says Huber, " I remarked 

 that they were of different sizes, shades, and 

 forms. The smallest were white, opaque, 

 and cylindrical ; the largest transparent, 

 and slightly arched at both ends ; while 

 those of a middle size were semi-transparent. 

 On holding them up to the light, I observed 

 a sort of white oblong cloud ; in some, a 

 transparent point might be remarked at the 

 superior extremity ; in others, a clear zone 

 above and underneath the little cloud. There 



were some whose whole body was so remark- 

 ably clear as to allow of my very distinctly 

 observing the rings. On fixing attention 

 more closely upon the latter, I observed the 



egg open, and the grub appear in its place. 

 Having compared these eggs with those just 

 laid, I constantly found the latter of a milky 



whiteness, completely opaque, and smaller 

 by one half, so that I had no reason to doubt 

 of the eggs of ants receiving a very consider- 

 able increase in size ; that in elongating they 

 become transparent, but do not at this time 

 disclose the form of the grub, which is always 

 arched." When the eggs are at length 

 hatched, the young grubs are fed either by the 

 neuters (called also nurse-ants and workers) 

 when any of these are in the colony, and by 

 the mother when she is alone, by a liquid 

 disgorged from the stomach, as is done in a 

 similar way by wasps, humble-bees, and 

 certain birds. 



" When the larvae have attained their full 

 growth they spin a silken covering, called 

 by entomologists a cocoon : in this they com- 

 pletely enclose themselves, and remain per- 

 fectly quiescent without receiving any nutri- 

 ment, awaiting the final change when they 

 are to assume the form of Ants. This stage 

 of its existence is the pupa, but is commonly 

 though very erroneously called the egg. 

 Ants' eggs, as they are vulgarly called, are a 

 favourite food for partridges and pheasants, 

 and are eagerly sought after by persons who 

 rear these birds from the egg. The cocoon 

 containing the pupa is of a long cylindrical 

 form, of a dirty white colour, and perfectly 

 without motion. The pupa within the cocoon 

 has now attained the form which it will 

 finally possess ; its limbs are distinct, but 

 want strength and consistence, and are co- 

 vered by a skin which has yet to be cast. In 

 colour it changes from white to a pale yellow, 

 then to red, and finally becomes almost 

 black ; its wings, if a male or female, are dis- 

 tinctly visible, but do not assume the shape, 

 size, or character, they are hereafter destined 

 to bear." Newman's Hist, of Insects. 



In England, ant-hills appear formed and 

 arranged with very little regard to order 

 or regularity ; but in the more southern 

 parts of Europe they are constructed with 

 amazing ingenuity. They are generally 

 formed in the vicinity of some large tree on 

 the bank of a river ; the former for the pur- 

 pose of securing food, and the latter for sup- 

 plying them with that abundant moisture 

 which is requisite for the use of these insects. 

 The ant-hill is of a conical shape, and is 

 composed of leaves, bits of wood, sand, earth, 

 stubble, gum, and grains of corn ; all united 

 into a compact body, perforated with gal- 

 leries down to the bottom, and having a 

 variety of tunnels or passages throughout 

 the interior, the number of these avenues 

 depending entirely on the population and 

 extent of the nest. At its commencement 

 the nest is simply an excavation made in the 

 earth ; a number of the labourers wander 

 about in quest of materials suitable for the 

 superstructure ; others carry out particles of 

 earth from the interior, and these particles, 

 interspersed with the fragments of wood and 

 leaves brought in continually from every 



