6 STAGES IN THE LIFE OF ANTS—EGGS. 
keep a few alive by themselves in captivity, and at any 
rate their habits under such circumstances are entirely 
altered. If, on the other hand, a whole community 
is kept, then the greater number introduces a fresh 
element of difficulty and complexity. Moreover, within 
the same species, the individuals seem to differ in 
character, and even the same individual will behave 
very differently under different circumstances. Al- 
though, then, ants have attracted the attention of many 
of the older naturalists,—Gould, De Geer, Reaumur, 
Swammerdam, Latreille, Leuwenhoeck, Huber,—and 
have recently been the object of interesting obser- 
vations by Frederick Smith, Belt, Moggridge, Bates, 
Mayr, Emery, Forel, McCook, and others, they still 
present one of the most promising fields for observation 
and experiment. 
The life of an ant falls into four well-marked 
periods—those of the egg, of the larva or grub, of the 
pupa or chrysalis, and of the perfect insect or imago. 
The eggs are white or yellowish, and somewhat elon- 
gated. They are said to hatch about fifteen days after - 
being laid. Those observed by me have taken a month 
or six weeks, 
The larvae of ants (Pl. V. fig. 3), like those of bees 
and wasps, are small, white, legless grubs, somewhat 
conical in form, being narrow towards the head. 
They are carefully tended and fed, being carried about 
from chamber to chamber by the workers, probably in 
order to secure the most suitable amount of warmth 
