HYMENOPTERA. 



its construction some only employ particles of earth, and almost entirely conceal 

 it; others seize on fragments of various bodies and with them raise conical or 

 dome-like hillocks over the spot in which they are domiciliated. Some 

 establish their dwelling in the trunks of old trees, the interior of which they 

 perforate in every direction in the manner of a labyrinth, in which the detached 

 particles are also employed. Various and apparently irregulixr galleries lead to 

 the particular residence of their young. 



The neuters roam abroad in search of provisions, appear to communicate to 

 each other the success of their labours by the senses of touch and smell, and to 

 aid and assist each other. Fruit, insects, or their larvae, dead bodies of small 

 quadrupeds and birds, &c., constitute their food. They feed the larvae with 

 their mouths, transport them in fine weather to the external superficies of the 

 hill, in order that they may receive additional warmth, and take them down 

 again on the approach of night or bad weather, defend them from their 

 enemies, and look to their preservation with the greatest fidelity, particularly 

 when the hill is disturbed. They pay equal attention to the nymphs, some of 

 which are enclosed in a cocoon, and the others naked; they tear open the 

 envelope of the former when the moment of their ultimate metamorphosis has 

 arrived. The name of eggs is vulgarly applied to the larvae and nymphs. 



Most ant-hills are wholly composed of individuals of the same species. 

 Nature, however, has deviated from this plan with respect to the F. roussatre 

 or Amazon-ant, and that which I have called the sanguined. Their neuters, 

 by open violence, procure auxiliaries of their own caste, but of different species, 

 which I have designated by the names of noir-cendree and mineuze. When 

 the heat of the day begins to lessen, and exactly at the same hour, at least for 

 several days, the amazons or legionaries quit their nest, advance in a solid 

 column, more or less numerous or according to the extent of the population, 

 and march upon the ant-hill they wish to attack. They soon penetrate into it 

 notwithstanding the opposition of the inhabitants, seize the larvae and nymphs 

 of the neuters peculiar to the invaded community, and transport them in the 

 same warlike order to their own domicile, where they are attended to in common 

 with the posterity of their conquerors, by other neuters of their own species in 

 a perfect state, that have either been metamorphosed there, or torn from their 

 original dwelling. Such is the composition of the mixed ant-hills. 



It is well known that the ant is extravagantly fond of a saccharine liquid 

 that exudes from the bodies of the Aphides and Gallinsects. Four or five 

 species convey both these aphides and their eggs, particularly in bad weather, 

 to the bottom of their nests, and even fight for the right of possession. Some 

 construct little galleries of earth, leading from the ant-hill, which extend 

 throughout the entire length of trees to the very branches that are loaded with 

 these insects. 



Both males and females perish towards the close of autumn, or on the first 

 approach of winter. The labourers pass the winter in their hill in a torpid 

 state. 



This great genus is now divided into various subgenera. The ATTA, 



