242 INSECT MISCELLANIES. 



the colony, providing them with food, constructing 

 chambers for their reception *, and taking care to 

 shelter them from cold and wet. On minutely ex- 

 amining their conformation, accordingly, these nurse- 

 ants or workers, as they are usually termed, have 

 been discovered to be, like the workers in a bee-hive, 

 females imperfectly developed, and, therefore, inca- 

 pable of laying eggs. This office is appropriated 

 to a distinct class of the colony, which would not 

 at first be recognized by the common observer as 

 belonging to ants at all, inasmuch as they are not 

 only thrice the bulk of the nurse-ants, but provided 

 with four very ample wings, and are besides, in some 

 species, very different in colour. The female, for 

 example, of the yellow ant (Formica flava) is of 

 a blackish-bronze colour, and might, if deprived 

 of her wings, be taken for a worker of the jet-ant 

 (F.fuliginosa) , become grizzled with age. Although 

 much remains still to be investigated with regard to 

 these singular insects, and particularly as to their 

 pairing, enough has been discovered by Gould, De 

 Geer, and the younger Huber, to awaken interest 

 and excite wonder. 



Towards midsummer, on to the close of autumn, 

 if a populous ant-hill of any species be examined, 

 there will be seen mixed with the wingless workers 

 a number of larger insects, with whitish, glistening 

 wings, but not taking any part in the labours of 

 the colony. Amongst these winged insects, also, 

 further examination will show that some are much 

 larger than others, though agreeing nearly with 

 them in colour. These larger ones are the fe- 

 males ; those of less size, the males. A very little 

 attention will show, however, that these are neither 

 kings nor queens in the State, at least so far as 

 freedom of action is concerned, for they are not 

 * See Insect Architecture, chap, xiv. 



