THE UNIVERSAL FAMILY PAPER FOR INTER-COMMUNICATIONS ON 



Conducted by WILLIAM KIDD, of Hammersmith,— 

 Author of the Familiar and Popular Essays on "Natural History;" "British Song 

 Birds; " "Birds op Passage;" "Instinct and Reason;" "The Aviary," &c. 



"the OBJECT OF OUR WORK is to make men WISER, WITHOUT obliging them to turn over folios and 



QUARTOS.— TO FURNISH MATTER FOR THINKING AS WELL AS READING."— EVELYN. 



No. 31.— 1852. 



SATURDAY, JULY 31. 



Price 3c?. 



Or, in Monthly Parts, Price Is. \d. 



WONDERS OF THE INSECT WORLD. 



THE ANT.— No. IT. 



This is precisely the season when a 

 popular description of the habits of the 

 insect tribes will be welcome. Of all insects, 

 the Ant perhaps is one of the most inter • 

 esting, — it appearing to be one of the 

 wisest, if we may so speak, of the united 

 families. 



We have already spoken of their skill in 

 the art of war (see page 49) ; and shown 

 how they excel in good generalship when 

 called out to battle. To-day, we shall take 

 a more pacific view of their domestic virtues 

 and general habits of life. We have, in early 

 da;y s, sat beside them for hours at a time, 

 and been tilled with amazement while be- 

 holding their labors and unwearied patience. 



Were it not that all colonies of ants were 

 alike, — alike in all their habits, actions, and 

 objects, we should assuredly side with those 

 who say they are possessed of " reason." 

 But their uniformity of action must for ever 

 settle that point, and their " instinct " must 

 be pronounced truly wonderful. 



Ants live in large societies, somewhat in 

 the manner of bees or wasps, and are, like 

 them, divided into males, females, and 

 neutrals. This latter class appears to con- 

 duct the business of the nest, which is usu- 

 ally placed at a small distance from the 

 surface, in some slight elevation, either pre- 

 pared by the insects themselves, or pre- 

 viously formed by some other animals, as 

 moles, &c. They feed both on animal and 

 vegetable substances, devouring the smallest 

 kinds of insects, caterpillars, &c, as well as 

 fruits of different kinds. The fondness of 

 ants for animal food is often turned to good 

 account by anatomists. When they wish to 

 obtain the skeleton of any animal too small 

 or delicate to admit of being prepared in the 

 usual way, the animal is disposed in a proper 

 position, in a small box, with perforations in 

 the lid, and deposited in a large ant hill ; in 



consequence, the softer parts are eaten away? 

 and the skeleton remains. Thus, very ele- 

 gant skeletons of frogs, snakes, &c, have 

 frequently been obtained. 



The common or black ant {formica nigra) 

 is a well-known inhabitant of our fields and 

 gardens, residing in great numbers between 

 mole-hills and other elevated spots. It is of 

 a brownish black color, and of a glossy or 

 polished surface. The eggs of this species 

 are deposited early in the Spring, and are 

 extremely small, and of a white color. From 

 these are hatched the larvae, which are of a 

 thickish form, destitute of legs, and some- 

 what resemble, in miniature, the maggots of 

 wasps and bees. They are carefully nou- 

 rished by the neutral or laboring ants, till 

 they are arrived at their full growth, when 

 they inclose themselves in smooth, oval, pale- 

 yellow silken webs or cases, in which state 

 they are properly known by the mistaken 

 title, of ant-eggs ; the real eggs, as before 

 observed, being white, and extremely small. 

 It is generally in the months of June and 

 July that the larvae thus inclose themselves. 

 The chrysalis, if taken out of its silken case, 

 is of a white color, and exhibits all the limbs 

 of the future animal in an imperfect or con- 

 tracted state. During the time of their re- 

 maining in chrysalis, the neutral ants attend 

 them with the same care as when in their 

 larva state, frequently shifting their situa- 

 tion,* and placing them at greater or smaller 

 elevations, according to the different state 

 of the atmosJDhere. 



About the latter end of July, or the be- 

 ginning of August, the males and females 

 may be observed in the nests : these differ 

 from the neutrals in being furnished with 

 wings, and the female is far larger than the 

 male ; the body equalling in size that of the 



* This care of the ants, in conveying their 

 pupae from place to place, seems to have been 

 often mistaken for a sedulous industry in col- 

 lecting grains of wheat, which the pupse, on a 

 cursory view, much resemble. — Ed. K. J. 



Vol. II. 



