120 INSECTA. 
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 veri- 
fied, we are indebted to M. Huber, Jun., who is so gloriously pur- 
suing the career of his father. 
It is well known that the Ant is extravagantly fond of a saccharine 
liquid that exudes from the bodies of the Aphides and Gallinsecta. 
Four or five species convey both these Aphides and their eggs, par- 
ticularly in bad weather, to the bottom of their nests, and even fight 
for the 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 naturalist 
just referred to(1). 
Both males and females perish towards the close of autumn, or on 
the first approach of winter. The labourers pass the winter in their 
hill in 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 use- 
less at a period when they are incapacitated from using them(2). 
The economy of the Ants foreign to Europe, and those of tropical 
countries particularly, is unknown tous. If those, called the Hourmis 
de visite by the French colonists, are sometimes of use to them by 
purging their dwellings of Rats, and a multitude of destructive or 
disagreeable Insects; other species induce them to curse their ex- 
istence on account of the extent of their depredations, which it is 
impossible to prevent. 
I divide the genus Formica in the following manner: 
(1) See his Recherches sur les Fourmis Indigenes. . 
(2) 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 success- 
ion by heavy rains?’ What is to become of the larve during this period of 
occlusion, if the nurses which feed them are themselves destitute of nourish- 
ment? Various Rodentia, that are known.to pass the winter ina 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, wherever if is found—generally speaking, and always supposing its domicil 
to be completed—always prefers particles of sugar, animal matter, and of what 
may strictly be denominated provisions, to substances much more durable and better 
calculated for building. Am. Ed. - 
