386 THE INSECT WORLD. 
them in chambers a little way from the top of the hill, where a 
milder heat can still reach them. We then see the ants them- 
selves taking the well-earned luxury of a few minutes’ rest, 
heaping themselves up together, right in the sun. There is no 
observant inhabitant of the country who has not seen the curious 
spectacle which we have just mentioned, that is to say, the popu- 
lation of an ants’ nest carrying into the sun the young nurslings, 
so that they may experience the action of the solar heat. We 
recommend the dweller in towns, who is in the country for a day, 
to stretch himself out near an ant-hill, in the warm weather, 
and witness this spectacle, one of: the most curious in nature. 
The care which the working ants bestow on their young does 
not consist only in nourishing them and procuring for them a 
proper temperature; they have also to keep them extremely 
clean. With their palpi they clean them, brush them, distend 
their skin, and thus prepare them for the critical trial of their 
_ metamorphosis. 
At this moment, the larve of ants, properly so called, spin 
ives: a silky cocoon, of a close tissue, and of a grey or 
: yellowish colour; those of the Myrmice and of the 
Ponere do not ‘sureetnd themselves with a silky 
cocoon before changing into pupee. These are at first 
of a pure white, but they very soon assume a brown 
colour, which increases until it becomes dark brown. 
They possess all the organs of the adult, enveloped 
in a membrane so thin that it seems to be iri- 
descent. Fig. 366 represents the pupa of the red 
ant. They are the cocoons enclosing the pup, which 
are incorr ectly called in the country ants’ eggs, 
mtheRedant Giyr- and are given to young pheasants and partridges. 
ue oe Uptiys pupee remain motionless till the insects emerge, 
which is accomplished with the assistance of the workers. 
These latter tear the covering from the pupa, and complete 
its deliverance. They then watch over the newly-born ant. 
For some days they feed it, help it to walk, and do not 
abandon it till it can dispense with their good offices. These 
workers, when provisions fail, or when the ant-hill is threatened 
with any great danger, take in their mandibles the eggs, the 

