m FOR 
Suity for the fupport of themfelves and the idle males 
and females, and who guard with fuch ferocity the larvae 
or what are commonly called ants’ eggs. They wander 
about all day in fearch of food, or materials for the nelt, 
and affift each other in bringing home what is too cum- 
berfome for fuch as have attempted it. They every day 
bring out of the nelt and expofe to the warmth of the 
fun, the newly-hatched larvae, and feed them till they 
are able to provide for themfelves. In the evening they 
confume together whatever has been collected during the 
day, and do not, as is commonly but erroneoufly lup- 
poled, lay up any (lore for the winter, but probably be¬ 
come torpid, or die; not an individual being to be found 
after the cold weather fets in. They are peculiarly co¬ 
vetous of the aphides, or plant-lice ; and are themfelves 
eagerly fought after by the ant-eater, and various birds. 
A very grateful acid is procured from them by diftilla- 
tion.—There are no lefs than feventy fpecies of the 
ant now afcertained in different parts of the world, dif- 
tinguifhed by the following names : i. Forjicula cephalotes • 
this is one of the larged and mod remarkable of the ge¬ 
nus : it inhabits South America, and is defcribed as 
follows by M. Merian, who correCtly figured it, and 
carefully watched its habits, during her relidence in Su¬ 
rinam. “Thefe large ants of South America will often 
fo completely drip the trees in one night, that they feem 
more like naked dirubs than trees; they are armed with 
two curved teeth, that cut like feidars, with which they 
divide the petiole or foot-dalk of the leaves from the 
trees, while myriads of the neuters wait at the bottom 
for the leaves that fall, which they carry into their caves 
to feed their young, while in the larva or worm date. 
Thefe caves are continually explored and plundered of 
the ants’ eggs, by the people of Surinam, who feed their 
poultry and chickens with them ; for on this food they 
fatten better and quicker than on rice or barley. From 
thefe larvae come ants, which, cading their (kin, become 
winged, and then depofit their ova, producing thefe 
larvae, for whole nouridiment the ants toil with fo much 
alacrity and labour in collecting leaves for food. In 
thefe hot countries, they condrudt their caves in the earth 
to the depth of eight feet, fo neatly fortfied, and fo inge- 
nioully contrived, that one would almod fuppofe it the 
work of human art. Tf the neuters want to pafs over 
to any place where there is no way, or from one limb of 
a tree to another, the mod hardy and robud fixes his 
nippers fad in the branch, the fecond takes hold of the 
fird, the third of the fecond, the fourth of the third, and 
in that manner hanging to one another, they expofe 
themfelves to the wind, till it carries the extreme end 
acrofs, which fixes in a fimilav manner; and thus their 
bodies ferve as a bridge for thoufands of their compa¬ 
nions to pafs over. In fome feafons, when their caves 
have not been much didurbed, their increafe is fo prodi¬ 
gious, that they ilTiie from their nefts in countlefs multi¬ 
tudes, attack men and cattle in their way, enter the 
houfes, and pafs in heaps through every room ; till called 
by nature to depofit their ova for a new generation ; then 
they depart and die.” Their- amours are carried on in 
the air ; and they foon feek a nidus for their young after 
impregnation. The female of this fpecies is (hewn in 
the plate of I’Tustr.a, at fig. 13 ; and one of the neu¬ 
ters, at fig. 14. 
The other fpecies of this genus are as follow : 2. For¬ 
mica herculanea ; inhabits Europe, in the trunks of de¬ 
cayed trees. 
3. Formica compreda ; inhabits Tranquebar. 
4. F. fmaragdina ; inhabits India. 
5. F. rufipes; inhabits Brafil. 
6. F. bicolor; inhabits Barbary. 
7. F. erythrocephala ; inhabits-New Holland. 
8. F. didyma ; inhabits Italy. 
o. F. rufa; inhabits Europe. 
10. F. pubefeens; inhabits Hungary. 
11. F. nigra ; inhabits Europe. 
at, F. fulca; inhabits Europe. 
FOR 
13'. "F. flavercens; inhabits Cayenne. * 
14. F. melanocephala; inhabits Cayenttd, where 5 ? 
often proves a mod calamitous ped, confuming and de« 
droying every kind of provifion. 
15. F. rubra ; inhabits Europe. 
16. F. cinerafcens ; inhabits Tranquebar. 
17. F.elongata; inhabitsTranquebar, and is very fierce. 
18. F. fex-guttata; inhabits Santa Cruz. 
19. F. feetens; inhabits Guinea.; this is a large foli- 
tary fpecies, has a very difagreeable fmell, and preys 0* 
the fmaller ants. 
20. F. albipennis; inhabits Santa Cruz. 
21. F. ruftbarbis ; inhabits France. 
22. F. obfoleta; inhabits Europe. 
23. F. quatuor-punCtata ; inhabits Alface. 
24. F. virefcens ; inhabits New Holland. 
25. F. faccharivora ; inhabits the American iflands; 
forms its ned in the fugar-cane, to which it is very de- 
drudtive. 
26. F. maculata ; inhabits Africa. 
27. F. Barbara; inhabits Africa. 
28. F. viatica; inhabits Spain, in highways and paths. 
29. F. pallipes; inhabits Cayenne. 
30. F. Hsgyptiaca ; inhabits Egypt. 
31. F. Antiguenlis ; inhabits Antigua. 
.32. F. Guineenfis; inhabits Guinea. 
33. F. binodis ; inhabits Egypt. 
34. F. omnivora ; inhabits Surinam. 
35. F. flava ; inhabits'Europe. 
36. F. caefpirum ; inhabits Europe, in dry meadows 
under mofs: the males and females fly abroad in large 
fwarms in a ferene day, like the day-fly. 
37. F. tiiberum ; inhabits Sweden. 
38. F. vagans ; inhabits Saxony. 
39. F. acervorum ; inhabits Denmark. 
40. F. unifpinofa ; inhabits Guadaloupe, 
41. F. groffa ; inhabits Cayenne. 
42. F. audralis; inhabits New Holland. 
43. F. bidens; inhabits Surinam. 
44. F. bifeutata; inhabits Cayenne. 
45. F. clavata ; inhabits India. 
46. F. attelaboides; inhabits Brafil. 
47. F. arenaria ; inhabits Barbary in moveable lands, 
and feeds on the fmaller tribes of its own genus ; called’ 
by fome formica Ico. 
48. F. megacephala; inhabits the ifle of France; 
49. F. aramon; inhabits New Holland. 
30. F. bihamata; inhabits India. 
51. F. militaris ; inhabits Africa. 
32. F. quatuor-dens ; inhabits Cayenne. 
53. F. fex-dens; inhabits America. 
34. F. atrata ; inhabits South America. 
33. F. gulofa ; inhabits New Holland. 
36. F. forficata ; inhabits New Holland. 
37. F. roftrata ; inhabits Cayenne. 
58. F. hamat-a ; inhabits Cayenne. 
39. F. htematoda ; inhabits America. 
€0. F. maxillofa; inhabits India. 
61. F. pharonis; inhabits Egypt : very minute. 
62. F. falomonis ; inhabits Egypt and Arabia. 
63. F. feetida ; inhabits America. 
64. F. vaga ; inhabits Auftria : lives in decayed trees 
and under rotten bark, and grooves out the wood in va¬ 
rious directions. 
65. F. venofa ; wings white with tefiaceous veins. 
66 . F. melanopis ; inhabits Europe. 
67. F. glabra ; inhabits Europe. 
6Z. F. teltacea; inhabits Europe. 
69. F. fufeefeens; inhabits Europe. 
70. F. ruficornis ; inhabits Europe. 
In Swiflerland, ants are often collected and let loofe in 
great numbers upon trees and flirubs, to devour cater¬ 
pillars and aphides with which they are infefted. 
FOR'MICA, /. in falconry; a diftemper incident to 
the beak of an hawk ; a kind of canker. 
FOR'MICANS, f. [from formica, Lat. the ant.] A 
medical 
