320 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 



queen ; some of them gently walk over her, others dance round her : she 

 is generally encircled with a cluster of attendants, who, if you separate 

 them from her, soon collect themselves into a body, and enclose her in the 

 midst." 1 Nay, even if she dies, as if they were unwilling to believe it, 

 they continue sometimes for months the same attentions to her, and treat 

 her with the same courtly formality as if she were alive, and they will 

 brush her and lick her incessantly. 2 



This homage paid by the workers to their queens, according to Gould, 

 is temporary and local ; when she had laid eggs in any cell, their atten- 

 tions, he observed, seemed to relax, and she became unsettled and uneasy. 

 In the summer months she is to be met with in various apartments in the 

 colony ; and eggs also are to be seen in several places, which induced him 

 to believe that, having deposited a parcel in one, she retires to another for 

 the same purpose, thus frequently changing her situation and attendants. 

 As there are always a number of lodgments void of eggs, but full of ants, 

 she is never at a loss for an agreeable station and submissive retinue ; and 

 by the time she has gone her rounds in this manner, the eggs first laid are 

 brought to perfection, and her old attendants are glad to receive her again. 

 Yet this inattention after oviposition is not invariable ; the female and 

 neuter sometimes unite together in the same cell after the eggs are laid. 

 On this occasion the workers divide their attention ; and if you disturb 

 them, some will run to the defence of their queen, as well as of the eggs, 

 which last, however, are the great objects of their solicitude. This state- 

 ment differs somewhat from M. Huber's ; but different species vary in 

 their instincts, which will account for this and similar dissonances in 

 authors who have observed their proceedings. Mr. Gould also noticed 

 but very few females in ant-nests, sometimes only one ; but M. Huber, 

 who had better opportunities, found several, which he says live very peace- 

 ably together, showing none of that spirit of rivalry so remarkable in the 

 queen- bee. 



And here I must close my narrative of the life and adventures of male 

 and female ants ; but, as it will be followed by a history of the still more 

 interesting proceedings of the workers, I think you will not regret the ex- 

 change. I shall show these to you in many different views, under each of 

 which you will find fresh reason to admire them and their wonderful in- 

 stincts. My only fear will be lest you should think the picture too highly 

 coloured, and deem it incredible that creatures so minute should so for 

 exceed the larger animals in wisdom, foresight, and sagacity, and make so 

 near an approach in these respects to man -himself. My facts, however, 

 are derived from authorities so respectable, that I think they will do away 

 with any bias of this kind that you may feel in your mind. 3 



I need not here repeat what I have said in a former letter concerning 

 the exemplary attention paid by these kind foster-mothers to the young 

 brood of their colonies ; nor shall I enlarge upon the building and nature 



1 Gould, p. 24. 



2 Compare Gould, p. 25., with Huber, 125. note (1). 



5 It may be thought that many of the anecdotes related in the following history 

 of the proceedings of neuter ants could not have been observed by any one, unless 

 he had been admitted into an ant-hill ; but it must be recollected that M. P. Huber, 

 from whose work the most extraordinary facts are copied, invented a kind of ant- 

 hive, so constructed as to enable him to observe their proceedings without disturbing 

 them. 



