The Insect World: Being a Popular Account of the Orders of Insects

HYMENOPTERA. Z79

ibdomen, as in Pojiera; their larvae spin a silky cocoon. They have 10 sting, bjit they pour into the wounds made by their mandibles an icid liquor, the pungent smell of which is well known. This liquid s formic acid, a natural product, which the chemist now-a-days mows how to make artificially, by the action of dilute sulphuric acid

Fig 361. — Sections of an Ant's Nest.

^n maize and other vegetable matters. Their whole body is impregnated with this acid, and has a strong sour smell. Some people ike to chew ants, on account of their sourish taste. " They also jnake," says Charles de Geer, " creams for side-dishes, to which these lints give, they say, the taste of lemon-juice." We know, in the south )f France, people who have eaten these crimes aux fourniis I Folyer-jus forms a sub-genus of Formica.

In all these species, the workers, or neuters, have the charge of

the building, provisioning, and rearing of the larvae — in fact, all tli care of the household, and the defence of the nest. Deprived c wings, they are bound to the soil, and condemned to work. As com pensation, to them belong strength, authority, power: nothing is done but through them. '' Born protectors of an immense family still in the cradle," says M. Victor Rendu, " by their vigilance, their tender ness, and their solicitude, without being mothers themselves, th ~share in the duties and joy of maternity. Alone, they decide peace or war; alone, they take part in combats: head, heart, an^ arm of the republic, they ensure its prosperity, watch over its defeno found colonies, and in their works show themselves great and perse vering artists." The nests of ants (Figs. 361, 362) are known under the name of ant-hills. They vary very much, both as to their form and the mate- 1 rials employed in making them — wood and earth are the principal. That which strikes one at first sight, is the size of these dwellings, which form a curious contrast to the smallness of their builders. Each species of ant has an order of architecture peculiar to it. The Red Ant {Fonnica rufa), one of the commonest in our woods, constructs a little rounded hillock with all kinds of objects— fragments of wood, bits of straw, dry leaves, the remains of insects, &:c. This hillock, the base of which is protected by material of greater solidity, is nothing more than the exterior envelope of the nest, which is carried underground to a very great depth. Avenues, cleverly contrived, lead from the summit to the interior. The openings vary in width; and, as night approaches, are carefully barricaded. They are opened every morning, except on rainy days, when the doors remain shut, and the inhabitants are confined within.

The ant-hill, ox fonuicariuin, is at first simply a hole hollowed out in the soil, the entrance to which is masked by the building materials. But the miners do not cease to hollow out galleries and chambers, arranged by storeys. The earth and rubbish are carried out, and serve to construct the upper edifice, which rises at the same time that the excavation grows deeper. It is a labyrinth bored in all directions. It contains corridors, landings, chambers, and spacious rooms, which communicate with each other by passages which are often vertical. All the corridors lead to a large central space, loftier than the otliers, and supported by pillars; it is here that the greater number of the ants congregate. These ant-hills often rise to a height of fifteen inches above the ground, and descend to an equal depth. Fig. 362 shows the interior of an ant-hill, drawn from Nature. Outside it are to be seen some ants occupied in sucking plant-lice.

—Section of an Ant-hill.

THE INSECT WORLD.

38: The group of Mason Ants contains a great number of varieties i the Ashy-black Ant (Fonnica nigra, Fig. 363), the Brown, the Yellow | {For7?iica flavd), the Blood-red, the Russet {Polyergus rufescens), the' Black, the Miner {Formica cimicularia), the Turf Ant, &c. All these species employ a mortar,- more or less fine, in raising their hillocks, at

Fig 363 — Ashy-black Ant {Fortnica nigra). Male, female, and worker.

the same time that they hollow out their underground dwellings. The! Jet Ant {Formica fuliginosa) excavates wood, hollowing out its laby-l rinth in the trunk of a tree with consummate skill. The Red Antj {Myrmica rubra, Fig. 359) plies, according to circumstances, thej trade of a mason or excavator.

The masons work when they can profit by the rain or by the

Fig J64. Ashy Ant. Male, worker, and female.

evening dew, to make their mortar. They only go out after sunset, or when a fine rain has wetted their roof Then they set to work. They roll up pellets of earth, bring them back in their mandibles, and stick them on to those places where the building was left unfinished. From all sides the earth-workers may be seen arriving, laden with materials. All these are bustling, hurrying, busy, but always in the greatest order, and with a perfect understanding among themselves. Every part of the building is going on at the same time. The apartments spring up one above another, and the edifice visibly rises. The rain, the sun, and the wind consolidate and harden the building so

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HYMBNOPTBRA.

cunningly contrived by these industrious workers, who have received from God alone their marvellous science. With no other tool than their mandibles, the excavators work their way through the hardest wood. They bore holes right through it, riddling it completely with numerous storeys of horizontal galleries. The Yellow Ant raises its little hillocks in fields, and passes the winter in a burrow or underground dwelling-place.

Independent of the principal entrances, there exist, in some nests, masked doors guarded by sentinels. Many species also hollow out covered galleries, which they only unmask in extreme danger, either to open an oudet for the besieged, or to turn the enemy who h:is already invaded the place. Ant-hills are, in fact, perfect fortresses,

Fig- 365- — Larva of the Red Ant. Fig. 366. — Pupa of the Red Ant {Myrvnca {Myrmica rubra.) rubra), magniiied.

;defended by a thousand ingenious contrivances, and guarded by sentinels always on the qui vive.

The domestic life of the different species is nearly the same. The birth and rearing of the little ones, and the duties of the adults, do not differ perceptibly from each other in the various species of ants. The females live together in harmony. They lay, without ceasing to walk about, white eggs of cylindrical form and microscopic dimensions. The workers pick them up, and carry them to special chambers. In a fortnight after the laying, the larva (Fig. 365) appears. Its body is transparent. A head and wings can be made out, but no legs; the mouth is a retractile nipple, bordered by rudimentary mandibles, into which the workers disgorge the juices they have elaborated in their stomachs; and as they lay by no provisions,

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they are obliged to gather each day the sugary Hquids destined for the food of the larvae. From their birth, a troop of nurses is charged with the care of them. They put them out in the open air during the day. Hardly has the sun risen, when the ants, placed just under the roof, go to tell those which are beneath, by touching them with their antennae, or shaking them with their mandibles. In a few seconds, all the outlets are crowded with workers carrying out the larvae in order to place them on the top of the ant-hill, that they may be exposed to the beneficent heat of sun. When the larvae have remained some time in the same place, their guardians 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 themselves 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 population of an ants' nest carrying into the sun the nurselings, so that they may benefit by 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 metamorphosis.

At this moment the larvae of ants, properly so called, spin themselves a silky cocoon, of a close tissue and of a grey or yellowish colour; those of the Myrtnicce and of the Pofierce do not surround themselves with a silky cocoon before changing into pupae. 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 iridescent. Fig. 366 represents the pupa of the red ant. They are the cocoons enclosing the pupae, which are incorrectly called in the country ants' eggs, and are given to young pheasants and partridges. The pupae remain motionless till the insects emerge, 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 dis

pense with their good offices. These workers, when provisions fail, or when the ant-hill is threatened with any great danger, take in their mandibles the eggs, the larv?e, the pupje, and sometimes those females and the males which refuse to follow them. Thus laden, they go their way, to seek for another country they may call their own. They never forget, in their hurried emigrations, the infirm or sick workers, which would perish in the house now abandoned and deserted.

The males and females lately hatched do not enjoy the same liberty as the young workers. They are confined to the ant-hill, where they are kept in sight till the day of the general departure. It is towards the end of the month of August that swarms of winged ants of both sexes are seen to issue forth. The males come out first, agitating their iridescent and transparent wings. The temales, less numerous, follow them closely. All of a sudden one sees this troop raise itself at a given signal, and disappear in the air, where the coupling takes place. The males perish immediately afterwards. The females impregnated return to the paternal home, or else found new colonies with the assistance of a few workers who are their escort. From this moment they no longer require wings. The workers make haste to cut them off, or, indeed, which oftenest happens, they themselves tear them off. With their wings they lose the desire for liberty. Henceforward, they will quit their retreat no more, the cares of their approaching maternity now alone occupying them. The working ants reserve for them subterranean chambers, where they are kept in sight by the sentinels. At certain hours only are they to be met with in the upper storeys. When they wish to walk, a company of guards presses round them on all sides so as to prevent them from advancing too quickly. There are no sorts of attentions they do not heap upon them to make them forget their captivity. They caress them, brush them, hck them, they offer them food continually. On the least appearance of danger, the workers take possession, first of all, of the pregnant females, and drag them out by the secret outlets, so as to put in a place of safety their precious persons, the hope of the community. The w'orkers' task is immense, for their labours increase in the same proportion as the population increases. But the division of work and the good understanding which exists between the members of the community, allow them to be prepared for anything that may happen, and to supply all their necessities.