540 



HISTORY OF INSECTS. 



mangled it, each will carry off a part of the 

 spoil. If they meet, in their excursions, any 

 thing that is too heavy for one to bear, and 

 yet which they are able to divide, several of 

 them will endeavour to force it along, some 

 dragging and others pushing. If any one of 

 them happens to make a lucky discovery, it 

 will immediately give advice to others, and 

 then, at once the whole republic will put them- 

 selves in motion. If in these struggles one of 

 them happens to be killed, some kind survivor 

 will carry him off to a great distance, to pre- 

 vent the obstructions his body might give to 

 the general spirit of industry. 



But while they are thus employed in sup- 

 porting the state in feeding abroad, and carry- 

 ing in provisions to those that continue at 

 home, they are not unmindful of posterity. 

 After a few days of fine weather, the female 

 ants begin to lay their eggs, and those are as 

 assiduously watched and protected by the 

 working ants, who take upon themselves to 

 supply whatever is wanting to the nascent 

 animal's convenience or necessity. They are 

 carried, as soon as laid, to the safest situation, 

 at the bottom of their hill, where they are 

 carefully defended from cold and moisture. 

 We are not to suppose, that those white sub- 

 stances which we so plentifully find in 

 every ant-hill, are the eggs as newly laid. 

 On the contrary, the ant's egg is so very small, 

 that, though laid upon a black ground, it can 

 scarcely be discerned. The little white bodies 

 we see are the young animals in their maggot 

 state, endued with life, long since freed from 

 the egg, and often involved in a cone, which 

 it has spun round itself, like the silk-worm. 

 The real egg when laid, if viewed through a 

 microscope, appears smooth, polished, and 

 shining, while the maggot is seen composed 

 of twelve rings, and is often larger than the 

 ant itself. It is impossible to express the fond 

 attachment which the working ants show to 

 their rising progeny. In cold weather they 

 take them in their mouths, but without offer- 

 ing them the smallest injury, to the very depths 

 of their habitation, where they are less subject 

 to the severity of the season. In a fine day 

 they remove them with the same care nearer 

 the surface, where their maturity may be 

 assisted by the warm beams of the sun. If a 

 formidable enemy should come to batter down 

 their whole habitation, and crush them by 

 thousands in the ruin, yet these wonderful in- 

 sects, still mindful of their parental duties, 

 make it their first care to save their offspring. 

 They are seen running wildly about, and dif- 

 ferent ways, each loaded with a young one, 

 often bigger than the insect that supports it. 



have kept, says Swammerdara, several of 

 the working ants in my closet, with their 

 young in a glass filled with earth. I took 



pleasure in observing, that in proportion a.* 

 the earth dried on the surface, they dug deeper 

 and deeper to deposit their eggs*; and when 

 I poured water thereon, it was surprising to 

 see with what care, affection, and diligence, 

 they laboured, to put their brood in safety, in 

 the driest place. I have seen also, that when 

 water has been wanting for several days, and 

 when the earth was moistened after it a little, 

 they immediately carried their young ones to 

 have a share, who seemed to enjoy and suck 

 the moisture. 



When the young maggot is come to its full 

 growth, the breast swells insensibly, it casts 

 its skin, and loses all motion. All the mem- 

 bers which were hidden before, then begin to 

 appear; an aurelia is formed, which repre- 

 sents very distinctly all the parts of the ani- 

 mal, though they are yet without motion, and, 

 as it were, wrapped up in swaddling clothes. 

 When at length the little insect has passed 

 through all its changes, and acquired its pro- 

 per maturity, it bursts this last skin, to assume 

 the form it is to retain ever after. Yet this 

 is not done by efforts of the little animal alone, 

 for the old ones very assiduously break open, 

 with their teeth, the covering in which it is 

 enclosed. Without this assistance the aurelia 

 would never be able to get free, as M. de 

 Geer often found, who tried the experiment by 

 leaving the aurelias to themselves. The old 

 ones not only assist them, but know the very 

 precise time for lending their assistance ; for, 

 if produced too soon, the young one dies of 

 cold : if retarded too long, it is suffocated in 

 its prison. 



When the female has done laying, and the 

 whole brood is thus produced, her labours, as 

 well as that of the male, become unnecessary ; 

 and her wings, which she had but a short time 

 before so actively employed, drop off. What 

 becomes of her when thus divested of her orna- 

 ments is not well known, for she is seen in 

 the cells for some weeks after. The males, 

 on the other hand, having no longer any oc- 

 cupation at home, make use of those wings 

 with which they have been furnished by na- 

 ture, and fly away, never to return or be heard 

 of more. It is probable they perish with the 

 cold, or are devoured by the birds, which are 

 particularly fond of this petty prey. 



In the meantime, the working ants, having 

 probably deposed their queens, and being 

 deserted by the males, that served but. to clog 

 the community, prepare for the severity of the 

 winter, and bury their retreats as deep in the 

 arth as they conveniently can. It is now 

 found that the grains of corn, and other sub- 

 stances with which they furnish their hill, are 

 only meant as fences to keep off the rigours of 

 the weather, not as provisions to support them 

 during its continuance. It is found generally 



