HYMENOPTERA. 387 
move them away from the direct action of the solar rays, and put 
them in chambers a little way from the top of the hill, where a 
' milder heat can still reach them. We then see the ants them- 
selves taking the well-earned luxury of a few minutes’ rest» 
heaping themselves up together, right in the sun. There is no 
observant inhabitant of the country who has not seen the curious 
spectacle which we have just mentioned, that is to say, the popu- 
lation of an ants’ nest carrying into the sun the young nurslings, 
so that they may experience the action of the solar heat. We 
recommend the dweller in towns, who is in the country for a day, 
'to stretch himself out near an ant-hill, in the warm weather, 
} and witness this spectacle, one of the most curious in nature. 
| The care which the working ants bestow on their young does 
} not consist only in nourishing them and procuring for them a 
| proper. temperature; they have also to keep them extremely clean. 
| With their palpi they clean them, brush them, distend their skin, 
| and thus prepare them for the critical trial of their metamor- 
| phosis. 
At this moment, the larve of ants, properly so called, spin 
| themselves a silky cocoon, of a close tissue, and of a grey or 
| yellowish colour; those of the Myrmice and of the 
| Ponere do not surround themselves with a shell 
| before changing into pups. These are at first of 
}a pure white, but they very soon assume a brown 
' colour, which increases until it becomes dark-brown. 
| They possess all the organs of the adult, enveloped 
‘in a membrane so thin, that it seems to be ir- 
i descent. Fig. 366 represents the pupa of the red 
jant. They are the shells enclosing the pupx, which 
jare incorrectly called in the country ants’ eggs, 

; é Fig. 366.—Pupa of 
|and are given to young pheasants and partridges. — the Red Ant (Afyr- 
| The pupz remain motionless till the insects emerge, nifed. 4 Sela 
‘which is accomplished with the assistance of the workers. 
‘These latter tear the covering from the pupa, and complete 
‘its deliverance. They then watch over the newly-born ant. 
|For some days they feed it, help it to walk, and do not 
‘abandon it till it can dispense with their good offices. These 
)} workers, when provisions fail, or when the ant-hill is threatened 
| co 2 

