PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 31!) 



enemies become the founders of new colonies, doing all the work, as I have 

 related in a former letter, that is usually done by the neuters. 1 M. P. Hu- 

 ber has found incipient colonies, in which were only a few workers engaged 

 with their mother in the care of a small number of larvae ; and M. Perrot, 

 his friend, once discovered a small nest, occupied by a solitary female, who 

 was attending upon four pupae only. Such are the foundation and first 

 establishment of those populous nations of ants with which we everywhere 

 meet. 



But though the majority of females produced in a nest probably thus 

 desert it, all are not allowed this liberty. The prudent workers are taught 

 by their instinct that the existence of their community depends upon the 

 presence of a sufficient number of females. Some, therefore, that are 

 fecundated in or near the spot they forcibly detain, pulling off their wings, 

 and keeping them prisoners till they are ready to lay their eggs, or are re- 

 conciled to their fate. De Geer in a nest of F. rufa observed that the 

 workers compelled some females that were come out of the nest to re- 

 enter it 2 ; and from M. P. Huber we learn that, being seized at the 

 moment of fecundation, they are conducted into the interior of the for- 

 micary, when they become entirely dependent upon the neuters, who 

 hanging pertinaciously to each leg prevent their going out, but at the same 

 time attend upon them with the greatest care, feeding them regularly, and 

 conducting them where the temperature is suitable to them, but never 

 quitting them a single moment. By degrees these females become recon- 

 ciled to their fate, and lose all desire of making their escape ; their 

 abdomen enlarges, and they are no longer detained as prisoners, yet each 

 is still attended by a body-guard a single ant, which always accompanies 

 her, and prevents her wants. Its station is remarkable, it being mounted 

 upon her abdomen, with its posterior legs upon the ground. These 

 sentinels are constantly relieved ; and to watch the moment when the 

 female begins the important work of oviposition, and carry off the eggs, of 

 which she lays four or five thousand or more in the course of the year, 

 seems to be their principal office. 



When the female is acknowledged as a mother, the workers begin to 

 pay her a homage very similar to that which the bees render to their 

 queen. All press round her, offer her food, conduct her by her mandibles 

 through the difficult or steep passages of the formicary ; nay, they some- 

 times even carry her about their city; she is then suspended upon their 

 jaws, the ends of which are crossed ; and, being coiled up like the tongue 

 of a butterfly, she is packed so close as to incommode the carrier but little. 

 When she sets her down, others surround and caress her, one after another 

 tapping her on the head with their antennae. " In whatever apartment," 

 says Gould, " a queen condescends to be present, she commands obedience 

 and respect. An universal gladness spreads itself through the whole cell, 

 which is expressed by particular acts of joy and exultation. They have a 

 particular way of skipping, leaping, and standing upon their hind-legs, and 

 prancing with the others. These frolics they make use of, both to con- 

 gratulate each other when they meet, and to show their regard for the 



* M. Huber observes that fecundated females, after they have lost their wings, 

 make themselves a subterranean cell ; some singly, others in common. From 

 which it appears that some colonies have more than one female from their first 

 establishment. 



2 ii. 1071. 



