344 INSECTS. HYKESOPTMA. 



compound, and rounded ; while those of the males are larger and more projecting. 

 The mouth is composed of two mandibles, two jaws, a labrum, and a lip with four 

 palpi ; the maxillary palpi are setaceous or filiform, and of ten joints. The labrum is 

 large, corneous, almost square ; and the lip is formed of a conical coriaceous sheath 

 inclosing a kind of tongue. The wings, four in number, are large, unequal, and 

 veined. The workers or neuters are smaller than the females, and destitute of wings, 

 and they alone are, like the working bees, destined to execute the labour of the whole 

 community. 



The manners of the ants have been observed and described by many naturalists ; 

 and their industry and foresight have afforded from all antiquity a moral lesson 

 to the idle and the thoughtless, which has been enforced in precepts, and illustrated 

 in apologues. But the work in which the manners of these singular animals are 

 most fully and accurately detailed is that by M. P. Huber, son of the celebrated 

 naturalist of the same name, entitled " Recherclies sur les Fourmls Indigenes." 



Thorax of the neuters arched above ; upper wings of the other in- 

 dividuals without recurrent nerves. 



F. Herculanea, Lin. Neuters with blackish antennae, the first joint 

 shining black, and the extremity of the last reddish brown ; head 

 large, shining black, glabrous or slightly hairy; thorax short, 

 shining blood red ; abdomen short, almost oval, with transverse 

 yellowish hairs. Thorax of the fem.ile of a deeper red, and large 

 wings; that of the male of a shining black colour, with the 

 antennae of a deep reddish brown ; abdomen oval and hairy at 

 the extremity, and the sexual organs projecting. 6 or 7 lines 

 long. Inhabits southern Europe, in old or dead trees. Lat. Hist. 

 Fourmis, pi. 1, fig. 1. 



** Thorax of the neuters with hollows which render it sinuous ; up- 

 per wings of the other individuals with a recurrent nerve. 



F. rufa, Lin. Neuters blackish, with part of the head, thorax, and 

 peduncular scale fawn-coloured ; three small smooth eyes ; three 

 lines long. The female is four lines long, with the thorax oval 

 and fawn-coloured, and the abdomen short, globular, black or 

 slightly bronzed, and the wings snake coloured. The male is 

 nearly of the same size, with the abdomen conico-trigonal, bent 

 at the anus, and the feet reddish brown ; wings obscure, with yel- 

 lowish nerves. Europe. Lat. Hist. Fourm. pi. 5, fig. 28. 

 The habitation of these ants is composed of portions of straws, wood, small frag- 

 ments of stones and all matters of easy transport ; and as they collect for the same 

 purpose grains of wheat, barley, and oats, this has led, with the appearance of 

 the ova in their receptacles, which much resemble grains of corn, to the belief that 

 they accumulated provisions for winter. These habitations appear under the form 

 of a small conical shaped rising or knoll, of which the base is often covered with 

 small peebles. All appears, according to M. Huber, disposed without order ; but 

 an attentive eye soon perceives that the construction is arranged in the best man- 

 ner to protect the colony from the effects of winter, and to preserve the inhabitants 

 from the effects of a variable temperature. The largest portion of the habitation 

 is concealed more or less deeply in the ground, and the avenues to this, in the form 

 of irregular tunnels, conduct from the summit of the edifice into the interior. The 

 number of these is proportioned to the population. These entrances are shut up in 

 bad weather and towards evening, and the barricades removed in the morning. 



F. nigra, Lin. Neuter small, about two lines long, of a blackish 

 brown colour, with the mandibles and the first joint of the an- 

 tennae paler ; thighs and legs brown ; pedicular scale notched. In- 

 habits Europe, on the sides of roads, fields, gardens, c. digging 



