VOL. XLIV.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. iQQ 



the aforesaid corroding liquor, &c. The red ants, which are furnished with a 

 sting, he observes live more open, &c. and are more bold than any of the others, 

 and therefore such a weapon is serviceable to them. 



The jet ants have a peculiarly disagreeable smell, which he imagines may be a 

 great preservative to them against an enemy; and that the spirit which all ants 

 eject is very strong, affecting at a small distance in the same manner as spirits of 

 hartshorn. 



Chap. 2 treats of their colonies, cells, &c. Here the author observes, that 

 though they unite in colonies, in such places and situations as are most agreeable 

 to their different natures, &c. yet their residence is not so limited as to admit no 

 variation; however, the several species never so intermix, as to associate and 

 breed together, though they will live near and good neighbours with each other. 



Their architecture is adjusted with remarkable curiosity and art ; the whole 

 structure being divided into a number and variety of cells, all communicating 

 with each other by little subterraneous channels, which are circular and smooth ; 

 but as for the incrustation, most virtuosi have mentioned, in the apartments of 

 ants, our ingenious author observes, that after the most careful observation he 

 could never find any composition in their structures; the cells being formed in 

 the mold itself, without any addition of glue, straws, &c. He acknowledges it 

 may be otherwise in hotter climates, where sand is more apt to crumble. 



Their works are all carried on by the assistance of their double saws, and the 

 hooks at their extremity. The process and manner of their work may easily be 

 observed, if you deposit some ants, with a lump of moist earth under a glass. 



A colony, from the latter end of August to the beginning of June, is usually 

 composed of a large female, and various companies of workers. And besides 

 these, in the latter end of June, all July, and part of August, of a number of 

 winged ants commonly known by the name of ant flies. The government has 

 been universally taken for a republic or commonwealth ; and has been treated as 

 a body consisting of males and females; the former being those which make their 

 appearance with wings in the summer. But as, in the economy of bees, the 

 generality of them have no distinction of sex, but make it their whole employ- 

 ment to provide for the young laid by their queen, so the same character is 

 found to be maintained in the constitution of ants. The common ants there- 

 fore, which usually present themselves to our view, are, he says, like the com- 

 mon bees, of neither sex, but seem entirely destined to take care of, and edu- 

 cate the young, which the queen deposits in the cells. 



In every perfect colony there is at least one queen ; who, in the space of 7 or 

 8 months, gives birth to a family, amounting, at a moderate computation, to 4 

 or 5000; except the red queens, who are not so prolific. The yellow ants being 

 the most frequent, he gives a very particular and curious description of their 



