5 24 
THE ANT. 
copulate in the air ; and the females, who are the f mai- 
led of the race, feldom repair to the common habitation : 
What is their deftiny, whether they die by the feverity 
of the winter, or fall a facrifice, like the bees, to the 
mercilefs fury of the labouring ants, is not afcertained *. 
We have already had occafion to remark the fondnefs 
of thefe infects for the faccharine liquor that exfudes 
from the plant loufe : it is in queft of that food that they 
are frequently feen on plants, in the company of thefe 
infects. In Switzerland , however, they are tranfported 
to trees for a different purpofe; the deftruftion of cater- 
pillars, and other vermin. A bag filled with ants is 
fattened to a tree, with a fmall hole purpofely laft open 
for them to creep out ; they fpread along the tree, and 
are prevented from leaving it, by a quantity of pitch with 
which the item is covered. Rather than die by famine, 
they go in purfuit of the caterpillars among the leaves, 
and devour them. 
* Barbut’s Gen. Infed. p. 289. 
