IN3ECTA. 1ST 



Males and females, for a time, have wings ; the neuters, 

 or workers, are without these appendages. Ants do not 

 lay up any winter stores, as they pass that season in a 

 dormant state, but provide daily sustenance with indefat- 

 igable industry. They construct their habitation with 

 tolerable regularity, forming cells and galleries in the 

 interior, covering the whole with earth. Many have 

 stings, with which they wound severely, and all have 

 the power of spurting forth an acrid, pungent liquor, se- 

 creted by their bodies, which, lighting upon the skin, 

 inflames it. They feed on sweet fruits, seize insects, and 

 also prey upon dead carcasses. Considering the aphides 

 in the relation of milch cows, they never injure their 

 bodies, but only suck the sweet fluids that exude from 

 them. The dwelling-place or receptacle for the eggs and 

 larvee is situated in the midst of the hill, the interior of 

 which is traversed by passages leading to chambers. 

 Most of the community are employed in carrying small 

 bits of sticks or pine needles, etc., which they intermix 

 with the earth that forms the principal material for their 

 dwelling. They make regular journeys from the ant- 

 hill to spots in the neighborhood, always performing them 

 in companies ; it has been remarked that on their going 

 forth a regular radiated line of march is always observed. 

 The eggs, small and milk-white, are carefully tended by 

 the workers, who, in order to keep them damp, moisten 

 them by licking them over with a kind of saliva ; thus 

 they increase in size, until, in due time, the grub comes 

 forth. This new subject, in its turn, demands the care 

 of these affectionate laborers; as soon as the sun shines 

 warmly, the young larvae is carried forth and fed on 

 sweet juices, receiving this care until at length it reaches 

 the transitionary stage, and becomes that species of pupa, 



