246 INSECT MISCELLANIES. 



a few females, which we observed to he guarded with 

 great care*. 



The males, it is probable, soon after pairing, die, 

 as do the males of bees and other insects ; 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 sub- 

 sistence. They accordingly disappear in a very short 

 time, many of them falling a prey to spiders; and we 

 have not only seen the webs of some of the geometers 

 (Tetragnatha extensa, &c.) literally studded with their 

 bodies, but have observed several of the hunters (Ly- 

 cosa saccata, &c.) pouncing upon those which were 

 enfeebled by hunger, when endeavouring to hide 

 themselves among the grass f. 



The subsequent proceedings of the females are very 

 different, and of curious interest. It was supposed 

 by the ancients, that all ants at a certain age acquired 

 wings ; but it was reserved for recent naturalists to 

 ascertain that it is only the males and females that 

 are ever winged, and that the latter lose these soon 

 after pairing, as they have no longer any use for 

 them. The younger Huber, in particular, by means 

 of his artificial formicaries, traced the development of 

 the wings in the female from the first commence- 

 ment, till he saw them stripped off and laid aside like 

 cast clothes. 



" One day," says he, " with the view of ascer- 

 taining the precise condition of the females, I visited 

 certain ant-hills, which I knew to be filled with 

 winged ants, and whose departure could not be very 

 distant. Scarcely had I reached the spot when I 

 saw several, both females and males, pass over my 

 head ; while at the ant-hill, I observed several take 

 flight, the males always preceding, and the labourers, 

 * J. R. t J. R* 



