310 AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG. 



Nothing can be more curious than the view of the interior 

 of a fully peopled ants' nest in summer. In one part are 

 stored the eggs ; in another the pupae are heaped up by hun- 

 dreds in spacious apartments ; and in a third we see the larvae 

 surrounded by the workers, some of which feed them, while 

 others keep guard, standing erect upon their hind legs with 

 their abdomen elevated in the position for ejaculating their 

 acid, than which, gunpowder would not be more formidable 

 to the majority of their foes. Some again are occupied in 

 cleaning the alleys from obstructions of various kinds ; and 

 others rest in perfect repose, recruiting their strength for new 

 labours. 



Contrary to what is observed amongst other insects, even 

 the extrication of the young ants from the silken cocoon 

 which encloses them is imposed upon the workers, who are 

 taught by some sensation to us incomprehensible, that the 

 perfect insect is now ready to burst from the shroud, but too 

 weak to elFect its purpose unaided. When the workers dis- 

 cover that this period has arrived, a great bustle prevails in 

 their apartment. Three or four mount upon one cocoon, and 

 with their mandibles begin to open it where the head lies. 

 First they pull off a few threads to render the place thinner ; 

 they then make several small openings, and with great pa- 

 tience cut the threads which separate them one by one, till 

 an orifice is formed sufficiently large for extracting the pri- 

 soner ; which operation they perform with the utmost gen- 

 tleness. The ant is still enveloped in its pellicle ; this the 

 workers also pull off, carefully disengaging every member 

 from its case, and nicely expanding the wings of such as are 

 furnished with them. After thus liberating and afterwards 

 feeding the new-born insects, they still for several days watch 

 and follow them every where, teaching them to unravel the 



ants to their young, for obtaining with little trouble a collection of the pupae, 

 which they sell as a dainty food for nightingales. They scatter an ants' nest 

 upon a dry plot of ground, surrounded with a shallow trench of water, and place 

 on one side of it a few fir branches. Under these the ants, having no other 

 alternative, carefully arrange all their pupa?, and in an hour or two the shepherd 

 finds a large heap clean and ready for market. Anderson's Recreations in Agri- 

 culture, &c. iv. 158. 



