HYMENOPTEEA. 387 



move them away from the direct action of the solar rays, and put 

 them in chambers a little way from the top of the hill, where a 

 milder heat can still reach them. We then see the ants them- 

 selves taking the well-earned luxury of a few minutes' rest/ 

 heaping themselves up together, right in the sun. There is no 

 observant inhabitant of the country who has not seen the curious 

 spectacle which we have just mentioned, that is to say, the popu- 

 lation of an ants' nest carrying into the sun the young nurslings, 

 so that they may experience the action of the solar heat. We 

 recommend the dweller in towns, who is in the country for a day, 

 to stretch himself out near an ant-hill, in the warm weather, 

 and witness this spectacle, one of the most curious in nature. 

 The care which the working ants bestow on their young does 

 not consist only in nourishing them and procuring for them a 

 proper temperature ; they have also to keep them extremely clean. 

 With their palpi they clean them, brush them, distend their skin, 

 and thus prepare them for the critical trial of their metamor- 

 phosis. 



At this moment, the larvae of ants, properly so called, spin 

 themselves a silky cocoon, of a close tissue, and of a grey or 

 yellowish colour ; those of the Myrmicae and of the 

 Ponerce do not surround themselves with a shell 

 before changing into pupae. These are at first of 

 a pure white, but they very soon assume a brown 

 colour, which increases until it becomes dark-brown. 

 They possess all the organs of the adult, enveloped 

 in a membrane so thin, that it seems to be iri- 

 descent. Fig. 366 represents the pupa of the red 

 ant. They are the shells enclosing the pupae, which 

 are incorrectly called in the country ants' eggs, 



J t . J _ , .-, Ffe- 366,-Pupa of 



and are given to young pheasants and partridges, the Bed Ant (j^r- 



., -MI mica rufa),m&g- 



The pupae remain motionless till the insects emerge, nified - 

 which is accomplished with the assistance of the workers. 

 These latter tear the covering from the pupa, and complete 

 its deliverance. They then watch over the newly-born ant. 

 For some days they feed it, help it to walk, and do not 

 abandon it till it can dispense with their good offices. These 

 workers, when provisions fail, or when the ant-hill is threatened 



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