and Ohfervaihm. 273 
fooner die than leave them. There are fe~ 
veral Sorts of Ants differing both in Size and 
Colour j and towards the End of Summer 
many of them are feen having four Wings, 
Thefe, Swammerdam fays, are Males*. 
The French Academy has published a curi¬ 
ous Account of Ants , whence I fhall abftrad: 
fiome few Particulars. Every Ant’s Neft (it 
tells us) has a ftraight Hole leading into it, 
about the Depth of Half an Inch j which, 
afterwards, runs Hoping downwards to the 
public Magazine, where the Grains they 
colled: are ftored up : and this is a different 
Place from that where they reft and eat.— 
Their Corn, being kept under Ground, would 
ihoot and grow, did they not prevent it by 
biting out the Germen or Bud before they lay 
it up ; but this they conftantly do : for if 
their Corn be examined, no Bud will be 
found therein $ nor, if fowed in the Earth, 
will it ever vegetate. Was it, however, to 
lie continually in the Ground, the Moifture 
w T ould occafion it to fwell and rot, and make 
it unfit for Food. But thefe Inconveniencies 
4ney find Means to remedy by their Vigilance 
and Labour in the following Manner. 
They gather very fmall Particles of dry 
Earth, which they bring out of their Holes 
** Vid* Sw AMMFrb , Hi/i, Generate des InfeSles, p. 1S3. 
T 4 every 
, * 
