NATURAL HISTORY. 125 
fsen palling and repaffing continually; fo that from May,.or the. be- 
Sinning of June, according to the flatevof the feafon, they work con 
tinually, till the bad weather comes on. , 
The-chief ermployment of the working ants, is in faftaining not only 
the idlers at home, but alfo finding a fufliciency of food for themf{elves, 
They live upon various,provilions, as well of the vegetable as of the 
animal kind, . Small infeéts they will kill and. devour; fweets of all 
kinds they are particularly fond of. They feldom, however, think of 
eir community, til they themfelves are firit-{atiated. Having found 
a juicy fruit, they {wallow what they can, and then tearing it in pieces, 
garry home their joad. If they meet with an infeé& above their match, 
fevéral of them will fall upomit at once, and having mangled it, each 
will carry off: a part-of the fpoil, If they meet, in their excurfions, 
any thing that is too heavy for one to bear, and yet, which they are 
Unable to divide, feveral of them will endeavour to force it along ; 
fome dragging and others puthing. If any one of them happens to 
make a lucky:difcoverys it will immediately give advice to others, and 
_then at once, the whole republic will put themfelves in motion, If in 
thefe ttruggles, one of them, happens to be killed, fome kind furvivor 
will. carry him off to a:great diftance, to. prevent the ob{tructions his 
body might give to the general fpirit of induftry. on 
Butwhile they are thus employed in fupporting the flate, in feeding 
abroad, and carrying in provilions to thofe that continue.at home, they 
are not unmindful of pofterity... After a4 few days of fine weather, the 
female ants begin to lay their eggs, and thofe are as affiduoufly watch- 
ed and protected by the working ants, who take upon themielves to 
fupply! whatever is wanting.to the nafcent animal’s convenience or ne- 
eéility...They are cartied as foon as laid, to the fafeft fituation, at 
the bottom of their hill, where they are carefully defended from cold 
and moifture: We are not’ to’ fappofe,, that thofe white fubitances 
Which we fo plentifully find in every ant-hiil, are the eggs as newly 
laid. On the contrary, the ant’s egg is fo very fmall, that, though 
laid upon a black ground, it.can scarcely be difcerned. The little white 
bodies we feey dreithe young animals in.their maggot, fate, endued 
With life long fince freed from the egg, and cften involved in a cone, 
which it has {pum round itfelf, like the filk worm, ‘The real egg when 
laid, if viewed through! a microfcope,| appears {mooth, polifhed, and 
thining, while the maggot is: teen compoted.of twelve rings, and is often 
Jarger than the ant iticlf, 5 ee ; ; Ps ‘ 
it is impoflible. to exprefs the fond attachment which the working 
Ants flew to their rifing progeny. In cold weather they take them in 
their mouths, but without offering them the {malleft injury, to the very 
depths of their habitation, where they are leis fubject to the feverity of 
thefeafon. In a fine day they remove them, with the fame care, nearer 
_ the farface, where their maturity may be-aflifted by the warm beams of 
the fun. If a formidable enemy fhould, come to batter down. their 
Whole habitation, and crufh them by.thoujands in the ruin, yet thefe 
Wonderful infeédts, fill mindful of their parental duties, make it their 
rft care to fave their offspring. ‘They are deen running wildly about, 
‘and different-ways; each loaded with a young. one, often bigger than 
the infeé that fupports it... 1 have kept, fays Swammerdam, feveral of 
‘the working ants in my. clofet, with their young, in a glafs filled up 
: ‘ : Sigs carta 
