300 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1747- 



queen; which is perhaps 5 times larger than any of her subjects; and in her 

 front she has 3 eyes, in a triangular form, which are smaller than the 2 common 

 ones on each side her head. The queen of the jets, he says, he never had the 

 pleasure of seeing. 



He has beautifully represented the obedience and respect the queen commands, 

 in whatever apartment she condescends to be present. A universal gladness 

 spreads itself through the whole cell, expressed by particular acts of joy and ex- 

 ultation; they have a particular way, it seems, of skipping, leaping, and standing 

 on their hind legs, and prancing with the others; which frolics they make use of 

 both to congratulate each other when they meet, and to show their regard for the 

 queen. Some walk gently over her, others dance around her, and all endeavour 

 to exert their loyalty and affection. However romantic, says the author, this 

 description may seem, it may easily be proved, by placing a queen, with her 

 retinue, under a glass; for in a few moments you will be convinced of the honour 

 they pay, and esteem they have for her. 



In October, ants and their queens begin to retire downwards; and in the 

 depth of winter are to be found in the remotest apartments, incircled close with 

 a cluster of attendants, and as it were benumbed. 



The author has been the more circumstantial in the time and manner in which 

 the queen lays the eggs, &c. to remove a mistake of Sir Edmond King's, who, 

 not aware of there being a superior female, gave into the old opinion, that the 

 small ants were the females, and supplied the colony with young; after a just 

 description of the sperm or eggs, Sir Edrnond observes, that he found that sub- 

 stance among the common ants , and that he gave the more credit to that opinion, 

 because of the great care and tenderness with which they treat it. But our 

 author does not allow this reason to be conclusive, inasmuch as the same is to be 

 met with in the constitution of bees; adding, that having at all times of the year 

 observed the common ants, he could never discern any alteration in their bodies 

 but what was occasioned by food, or some accident. 



The queen, he says, lays three different sorts of eggs, male, female, and 

 neutral; the first two in the spring, the last in July and part of August. 



The queen having furnished the eggs, the common ants brood over them in 

 little clusters, perhaps by way of incubation , and remove them to different parts 

 of the colony, for the better advantage of moisture, and a just degree of heat 

 and cold. The time of continuance in the egg-state is rather uncertain; but 

 he says they seem to disengage themselves from the membranes that inclose the 

 eggs in the same manner as silk-worms do. 



The process of ant vermicles is remarkable, and worth observation. The 

 female eggs put on the form of worms some time in February, at latest ; the 

 male by the latter end of March; the neutral by September. The first summer 



