HYMENOPTERA. 235 
The name of eggs is vulgarly applied to the larvae and nymphs ; 
those of the F. rufa are eaten by young Pheasants. The neuters 
prevent the individuals with newly acquired wings from issuing forth 
until the proper moment has arrived, which is always determined by 
the heat of the atmosphere. They then open a passage for them and . 
let them go. 
Most ant-hills are wholy composed of individuals of the same spe- 
cies. Nature, however, has deviated from this plan with respect to 
the F. rowssatre or Amazon-ant, and that which I have called the 
sanguinea. Their neuters, by open violence, procure auxiliaries of 
their own caste but of different species, which I have designated by 
the names of notr-cendrée and mineuse. When the heat of the day 
begins to lessen, and exactly at the same hour, at least for several 
days, the Amazons or Legionnaires quit their nest, advance in a solid 
column, more or less numerous or according to the extent of the po- 
pulation, and march upon the Ant-hill they wish to attack. They 
soon penetrate into it notwithstanding the opposition of the mhabi- 
tants, seize the larvee and nymphs of the neuters peculiar to the in- 
vaded community, and transport them in the same warlike order to 
their own domicil, 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. For these curious observations, which I have verified, we 
are indebted to M. Huber, Jun., who is so-gloriously pursuing the 
career of his father. 
It is well known that the Ant is extravagantly fond of a saccha- 
rine liquid that- exudes from the bodies of the Aphides and Gallin- 
secta. 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 tlie 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. These interesting facts have also been observed by the na- 
turalist just referred to *. 
Both males and females perish towards the close of autumn, or on 
the first approach of winter. The labourers pass the winter in their 
hillin a torpid state, and their so highly vaunted foresight in this 
respect has no other aim than that of augmenting and consolidating 
their habitation by all sorts of means, for provisions would be useless 
at a period when they are incapacitated from using them (a). 
* See his Recherches sur les Fourmis Indigénes. 
(> (a) How will this reasoning apply to those that dwell in the interior of trees, 
&c., and whose habitations do not require this consolidation, or to those that in- 
habit tropical countries, where hibernation is out of the question, but where, at 
certain seasons, they are liable to be confined to their abodes for weeks in succes- 
sion, by heavy rains? What is to become of the larve during this period of occlu- 
sion, if the nurses which feed them are themselves destitute of nourishment ? 
Various Rodentia, that are known to pass the winter in a state of lethargy, lay by 
ample supplies, on which they feed early in the spring, or in the event of a fortuitous 
disturbance of their slumbers, and it is a fact worthy of notice, that the Ant, where- 
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