348 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 



very small cell in the middle of the solid mass, (a cell about half an inch 

 in height, and veiy narrow,) a larva with an enc^hnous head. Two of 

 these individuals were in the same cell : — one of the two seemed placed 

 as sentinel at the entrance of the cell. I amused myself by forcing the 

 door two or three times: — the sentinel immediately appeared, and only 

 retreated when the door was on the point to be stopped up, which was 

 done in three minutes by the laborers." 



I hope this account has reconciled you in some degree to the destructive 

 Termites : — I shall next introduce you to social insects, concerning most 

 of which you have probably conceived a more favorable opinion — I mean 

 those which constitute the second class of perfect societies, whose workers 

 are not larvae, but neuters. These all belong to the Hymenoptera order 

 of Linne : — there are four kinds of insects in this order, (which you will 

 fmd as fertile in the instructors of mankind, as you have seen it to be in 

 our benefactors,) that, varying considerably from each other in their pro- 

 ceedings as social animals, separately merit your attention ; namely, ants, 

 wasps and hornets, humble-bees, and the hive-bee. I begin with the 

 first. 



Full of interesting traits as are the history and economy of the white- 

 ants, and however earnestly they may induce you to wish you could be a 

 spectator of them, yet they scarcely exceed those of an industrious tribe 

 of insects, which are constantly passing under our eye. The ant has 

 attracted universal notice, and been celebrated from the earliest ages, both 

 by sacred and profane writers, as a pattern of prudence, foresight, wisdom, 

 and diligence. Upon Solomon's testimony in their favor I have enlarged 

 before ; and for those of other ancient writers, I must refer you to the 

 learned Bochart, who has collected them in his Hierozoicon. 



In reading what the ancients say on this subject, we must be careful, 

 however, to separate truth from error, or we shall attribute much more to 

 ants than of right belongs to them. Who does not smile when he reads 

 of ants that emulate the wolf in size, the dog in shape, tlie lion in its feet, 

 and the leopard in its skin — ants, whose employment is to mine for gold, 

 and from whose vengeance the fiTrtive Indian is constrained to fly on the 

 swift camel's back ?' But when we find the writers of all nations and 

 ages unite in affirming, that, having deprived it of the power of vegetating, 

 ants store up grain in their nests, we feel disposed to give larger credit to 

 an assertion, which, at first sight, seems to savor more of fact than of fable, 

 and does not attribute more sagacity and foresight to these insects than in 

 other instances they are found to possess. Writers in general, therefore, 

 who have considered this subject, and some even of very late date, have 

 taken it for granted that the ancients were correct in this notion. But 

 when observers of nature began to examine the manners and economy of 

 these creatures more narrowly, it was found, at least with respect to th^ 

 European species of ants, that no such hordes of grain were made by 

 them, and, in fact, that they had no magazines in their nests in which pro- 

 visions of any kind were stored up. It was therefore surmised that the 

 ancients, observing them carry about their pupce, which, in shape, size, 

 and color, not a little resemble a grain of corn, and the ends of which 



» Bochart, Hierozoic. ii. 1. iv. c. 22. 



