OF NATURAL HiSTaRY. 435 



neous galleries. The form of tlielr neft or hill is fomcwhat 

 conical, and, of courfe, the water, when it rains, runs eafily 

 off, without penetrating their abode. "CTnder this hill there 

 are many galleries or paiTages which communicate with each 

 other, and refemble the ftreets of a fmall city. 



The ants not only afibciate for the purpofe of conftrud- 

 ing a common habitation, but for cherifhing and protecting 

 their offspring. Every perfon muft have often obferved, 

 when part of a neft is fuddenly expofed, their extreme fo- 

 licitude for the prefervation of their chryfalids or nymphs, 

 which often exceed the lize of the animals themfelves. 

 With amazing dexterity and c.uicknefs the ants tranfport 

 their nymphs into the fubterraneous galleries of the neft, 

 and place them beyond the reach of any common danger. 

 The courage and fortitude with which they defend their 

 young is no lefs aftonifhing. The body of an ant was cut 

 through the middle, and, after fuffering this cruel treatment, 

 fo ftrong was its parental affecStion, with its head, and one 

 half of the body, it carried oft* eight or ten nymphs. They 

 go to great diftances in fearch of proviftons. Their roads, 

 which are often winding and involved, all terminate in the 

 neft. 



The wifdom and forelight of the ants have been celebrat- 

 ed from the remotcft antiquity. It has been afterted and be- 

 lieved, for near three thoufand years, that they lay up maga- 

 zines of proviftons for the winter, and that they even cut oft* 

 the germ of the grain to prevent it from fiiootlng. But the 

 ancients were never famed for accurate refearches into the 

 nature and operations of infe£ts. Thefe fuppofed magazines 

 could be of no ufe to the ants •, for, like the marmots and 

 dormice, they fleep during the winter. A very moderate 

 degree of cold is fufiicient to render them torpid. In faCt, 

 it is now well known that they amafs no magazines of pro- 

 vifions. The grains v/hich, with fo much induftry and la- 



