CHAP. VI. OF THE RELATION OF ANTS WITH THE PUCERONS AND GALL INSECTS.

1. Of the Antennal Language.

Let us return to the important question, relative to the language of ants. If they have a language, I cannot give too many proofs of it; if I labour under an error, the following facts, in whatever manner they may be explained, will plead my excuse.

Imagining that I have not presumed too much upon the justness of my conclusions, I have been under the necessity of admitting, that ants possess the means of communicating their different impressions, and I think this faculty consists, in the striking with their head the corslet of their companions, and in the contact of their mandibles; but these are the common signs of which they make use. The antennæ, the organs of touch, and, perhaps, of some other sense which is unknown to us, are the principal instruments connected with the language of ants: their situation in the fore-part of the head, their flexibility, their construction, which presents a series of articulations, endowed with extreme sensibility; their close connection with instinct, added to the observations I made, whilst speaking of the conduct of these insects, in reference to the females, males, and labourers, induce me to believe that the antennæ perform the most important office among ants. We have seen insects frequently use them on the field of battle, to intimate approaching danger, and to ascertain their own party when mingled with the enemy; they are also employed, in the interior of the ant-hill, to warn their companions of the presence of the sun, so favourable to the development of the larvæ; in their excursions and emigrating, to indicate their route; in their recruitings, to determine the time of departure, &c. Let us still see of what further service they are to these insects. As ants do not possess the art of constructing magazines, and filling them with provisions, they cannot, like bees, draw their supply from the cells; they are, therefore, obliged to quit their habitation: those, who remain at home, expect their food from the labourers, who are gone abroad to procure it; the latter bring back small insects, or the bodies of such as they have dismembered. When they fall in with ripe fruit, or animals of tender flesh, as worms, lizards, &c. and are not able to convey them to the ant-hill, they feed upon their juices, and on their return to their habitation, their stomachs being filled with the liquid provision, they disgorge it in the mouths of their companions, which is effected in this manner:—the ant, who experiences hunger, begins striking with both its antennæ, with an extremely rapid movement, the antennæ of the ant from whom it waits its supply; it then draws closer, with its mouth open, and its tongue extended, to receive the fluid, which is observed to pass from the mouth of one to that of the other: during this operation, the ant who is receiving aliment, does not cease caressing its kind friend, by continuing to move its antennæ with great quickness; it also plays upon the lateral parts of the head of its benefactor, with its fore-feet, which are furnished with very thick brushes, and which, from the delicacy and rapidity of their movement, yield in no respect to the antennæ. The ant, who returns from foraging in the fields, is well acquainted with the mode of informing its companions of the necessity under which it lies, of discharging a part of the fluid with which it is provided, and by the aid of its antennæ, appears to invite them to come and take their portion; but it does not, in this case, make use of the fore-feet. This language is well understood by these insects; even the larvæ, who know how to demand their nourishment, (by raising their head, as we have before remarked,) erect themselves, and present their mouths, as soon as they perceive the ant striking with its antennæ the upper part of their body.

The antennal language would require, without doubt, deep study, should we be desirous to ascertain every impression which it is susceptible of communicating. It is, like all the other signs I have observed amongst ants, founded not upon visible gestures, but upon the contact or approximation of certain parts; since it was necessary it should prove of utility in the interior of the ant-hill, where the light of day never penetrates: hence it happens, that an ant can only be understood by one of its companions at the same time, but the information which it conveys, passes from one to the other with extreme rapidity. If it so happen, that we can prove they know how to impart information to insects, not of their own species, we must conclude they have been singularly favoured by nature.

2. The Intimacy of Ants with the Pucerons.

We know that a great number of vegetables furnish provision to the Pucerons or Aphides. These insects fix themselves upon the leaves, or small branches, and insinuate their trunk or sucker between the fibres of the bark, where they find the most substantial nourishment. A portion of this aliment, shortly after being taken, is expelled, under the form of small limpid drops, either by the natural passage, or by two horns, that we commonly observe on the posterior part of the body. This fluid constitutes the principal support of the ants. We have already noticed, that they wait the moment when the pucerons eject this precious manna⁠[1]⁠, upon which they (the ants) immediately seize; but this is the least of their talents, for they know how to obtain it at any time they wish.

I observed a branch of a thistle, covered with Brown Ants and pucerons, and noticed that the latter regulated the time when they discharged this secretion; but I remarked, that it very rarely passed at the natural period, and that the pucerons, stationed at some distance from the ants, scattered it afar off, by a movement somewhat resembling the kicking or wincing of a horse. How happened it, then, that the ants, wandering upon the branches, displayed bellies remarkable for their size, and evidently filled with some kind of liquid. This is what I learned, by watching closely a single ant, whose movements I am about to describe. I saw it, at first, pass, without stopping, some pucerons, which it did not however disturb. It shortly after stationed itself near one of the smallest, and appeared to caress it, by touching the extremity of its body, alternately with its antennæ, with an extremely rapid movement. I saw, with much surprise, the fluid proceed from the body of the puceron, and the ant take it in its mouth. Its antennæ were afterwards directed to a much larger puceron than the first, which, on being caressed after the same manner, discharged the nourishing fluid in greater quantity, which the ant immediately swallowed: it then passed to a third which it caressed, like the preceding, by giving it several gentle blows, with the antennæ, on the posterior extremity of the body; the liquid was ejected at the same moment, and the ant lapped it up. It then proceeded to a fourth; this, probably already exhausted, resisted its action. The ant, who in all probability knew it had nothing to hope for by remaining there, quitted it for a fifth, from whom it obtained its expected supply. It now returned, perfectly contented, to its nest.⁠[2] A small number of such repasts will satisfy an ant. I still observed those which remained upon the thistle; they presented me the same scene. From that period, I always found, that the arrival of the ants, and the striking with their antennæ, preceded the gift of this liquid, and that the attitude of the pucerons (their head being lowered,) appeared destined to favour this object. I have a thousand times witnessed these proceedings, which ants always employ with success. If, however, they neglect for a long time visiting them, they (the pucerons) deposit the honey upon the leaves, where the ants find it on their return.

When the ants come frequently to these insects, the latter appear to accommodate themselves to their wish, by shortening the period of their evacuations, which may be ascertained by the size of the drops they produce; and, in that case, they never eject it to a distance. We might even say, they are very careful in retaining it, for the purpose of placing it within their immediate reach. It sometimes happens, that the ants are too abundant upon the same plant, and, therefore, exhaust the pucerons that cover it. Under this circumstance, they vainly attempt to play with their antennæ upon the body of these insects; they are obliged to wait until the pucerons have replenished themselves by a further ration drawn from the branches. The pucerons are not avaricious, and never resist the solicitation of the ants, when in a state to satisfy them. I have often seen the same individual grant, successively, several drops of this fluid to different ants, who appeared extremely anxious to obtain it. The Brown Ant is not the only ant endowed with this art, although it is certainly one of the most skilful in procuring, in this way, its subsistence. The Fallow, the Ash-coloured, the Red, and several other ants, possess, in different degrees, the power of inducing these insects to deliver over to them this secretion. The Red Ant displays a singular address in receiving this little drop. It employs its antennæ, the extremity of which is a little enlarged, to convey it to its mouth, as if they were real fingers.

It does not appear that it is by importunity ants obtain from the pucerons their nourishment. I observed some Fuliginous Ants upon the branches of an oak, which were loaded with large black pucerons. The latter were walking backward and forward, and appeared to live in the best intelligence with the ants: they provided them with honey, but did not attempt to escape, although they were much more nimble than those of which I have already spoken. I saw one, in this assembly, that possessed wings: its wings, which were black, ornamented with two white rays, together with its size, made it very conspicuous amongst its companions. I saw several ants very busy and restless around it, because it approached the other pucerons, from whom they were about to demand their repast. They proceeded toward it, in great haste, gave it a few blows with their antennæ, and stationed themselves near the former. I was, at first, of opinion, that the winged pucerons embarrassed them; but, in a favourable moment, I observed it to be struck or caressed by the ants, when it yielded to them the food they solicited. I have often noticed, since that period, other winged pucerons delivering to the ants, without restraint, this valuable liquid; they allowed themselves to be touched by the antennæ of those insects, remained upon the branch where their companions who were destitute of wings were stationed, and did not appear to avoid the ants, whose number one would suppose would inconvenience them. This proves that the neighbourhood of the ants is agreeable to the pucerons, since those who might easily withdraw from their visits, prefer resting among them, bestowing upon them what is superfluous of their nourishment.

I have noticed the same occurrence with respect to the greater part of the ants of this country. The largest pay their visits also to the pucerons. One would be astonished to see how they treat them, and with what delicacy they invite them with their antennæ (which are different from those of the Red Ants, and more slender at the extremity than elsewhere) to deliver over the honey.⁠[3] I am not acquainted with any ants, to whom the art of obtaining from the pucerons their subsistence, is unknown: we might even venture to affirm that these insects have been created for their use.

3. Of the Relation of Ants with the Gall Insects.

We know that the gall insects as well as the pucerons, station themselves on the leaves and branches of trees, to suck their juices. The mouth and the sexual parts are applied against the tree; the orifice, destined to reject the excess of their nourishment, is placed on the back. The ants are attracted by the gall insects as well as the pucerons: I am not the first to have observed it. It has been long known that the kermes, and the cochineal insects, which are generally allied to our gall insects, are always accompanied by ants, but we were unacquainted with the reason for this intimacy. It had never been remarked, that the gall insects delivered over to them, like the pucerons, a considerable portion of the fluids they extract.

M. de Reaumur himself believed, that the puncture made upon the tree by the gall insects, continued to pour forth a fluid after they had withdrawn their sucker, and that the ants came up immediately to lap the juice which transuded; but this conjecture, however probable it then appeared, has not been verified. These insects, which had for so many years escaped our notice, were at all times known by the ants to be beings endowed with life and sensation. I was very much astonished when I saw, for the first time, an ant approach a gall insect, and perform with its antennæ, on its lower extremity, the same manœuvres, which it executed in respect to the pucerons. After having a few moments caressed this insect, I saw proceed from its back, a large drop of fluid, which the ant immediately lapped up. I observed the same occurrence, with reference to other gall insects on the same tree, during several seasons. They were stationed in great number upon an enlarged part of the trunk. The ants came there constantly to receive their provisions, which was fully confirmed by my observing these insects upon an orange tree, where I saw the ants obtain from them their food in the same manner. We can only compare the movements of ants upon this occasion, to the play of the fingers in a shake upon the piano-forte.

The kermes, like the pucerons, eject this fluid to a distance when the ants are not present to receive it; this, however, but rarely happens. The gall insects of the vine, the peach, and the mulberry-tree, never failed presenting me with the same spectacle; which gave me some general ideas respecting the relation which exists between the instinct of these insects and that of ants. That the pucerons and the gall insects experience pleasure, when caressed in this way by the ants; that it is an advantage to them to be earlier rid of their secretions; or that there really exists between each, some kind of language, is still one of those questions upon which we cannot well decide: but we shall not the less admire the manner in which ants procure their subsistence. This fluid is to them an inexhaustible treasure. It will be enough, to be convinced of this truth, to station one’s-self near an oak covered with these insects, where we shall, soon after, observe thousands of ants ascending and descending the trunk. All those ascending have small bellies, and walk nimbly; those, on the contrary, descending, have their abdomen swoln, transparent, full of the fluid obtained from these insects, and do not move but with difficulty.

4. The almost Human Industry of Ants.

There are ants that scarcely ever quit their abode; we neither observe them moving towards trees or their fruit; they do not even go in chace of other insects; they are, notwithstanding, extremely common in our meadows and orchards. I allude to the Yellow Ants, called by the common people Red Ants, and which would merit the surname of souterraines. They are two lines in length, their body is of a pale yellow colour, slightly transparent, and covered with hair.

I knew where all the other ants sought and obtained their nourishment; but I could not ascertain what these did to exist, and what aliment they could furnish themselves with, without quitting their habitation; when, one day, having turned up the earth of which their nest was composed, to discover if they had any provision, I found it to contain the pucerons. I saw them at the roots of the grass which surrounded the ant-hill. They were assembled in considerable numbers, and were of different species: the most common, were of a flesh colour and of a round form; others were white, and had the body more flattened; but they were of the same genus. There were also some that were green and violet coloured, others with black and green rays; the latter stood higher upon their legs, and were much longer. Some were removed to a great depth, attached to the deeper part of the roots; others were wandering about in the midst of the ants, either in the upper or under-ground chambers. The ants appeared to seize the favourable moment for taking their food; they acted in the ordinary manner, and always with the same success. This clearly explained, why the ants of this species did not quit their abode, since they had, without leaving it, all that was necessary for their support.

I was anxious to verify this discovery, by looking into several nests of the Yellow Ants, where I always found the pucerons. They may be readily seen after warm rains; for they at that time keep near the surface of the ground: the plants upon which they are stationed may be then readily plucked up by the roots, without crushing these insects, which happens when the earth is too dry. I soon found that the Yellow Ants were extremely jealous of these insects; they took them often in their mouths, and carried them to the bottom of the nest; at other times, they brought them up among them, or followed them with much solicitude. I profited by the information I had acquired of their way of life, so as to nourish, at my own residence, one of their colonies. I placed the ants in a glazed box, with their pucerons, leaving in the earth I gave them the roots of some plants, whose branches vegetated without. I watered from time to time the ant-hill, and in this manner, the plants, the pucerons, and the ants themselves, found in this apparatus abundant nourishment. The ants made no attempt to escape; they appeared to have nothing to desire; they took care of their larvæ and females, with the same affection as in their own nest; they also paid great attention to the pucerons, and never injured them. The latter did not seem to labour under the slightest fear; they allowed themselves to be carried from place to place, and rested in the spot chosen by their guardians. When the ants wished to displace them, they began caressing them with their antennæ, hoping thereby, to induce them to abandon the roots, or to withdraw their trunk from the cavity in which it was inserted; they afterwards took them up gently in their mandibles, and carried them with the same care as the larvæ of their own species. I witnessed the same ant remove, successively, three of these insects, much larger than itself, and convey them to a darkened chamber.⁠[4] There was one which made a long resistance, probably by not being enabled, at the moment, to withdraw its trunk, which might have been buried deeply in the wood. I was much amused in observing the various attempts made by this ant, to induce it to quit its hold; it caressed and seized it alternately, until it at length yielded to its wishes. The ants do not employ this gentle method, when they labour under an apprehension that these insects may be taken away from them by the ants of another species, living near their habitation, or when we happen to tread too heavily on the grass under which they are concealed, for they then seize upon them directly, and carry them off to the under-ground chambers. I have seen the ants of two neighbouring nests disputing about their pucerons; when the ants of one nest were enabled to enter the habitation of their neighbours, they purloined these insects, which were, after a time, often recovered by their original possessors. The ants know full well the value of these little animals, which, it would appear, had been created for them;—they constitute their sole wealth, an ant-hill being more or less rich, as it is more or less provided with pucerons; they are in fact their cattle, their cows, their goats, &c. Who could have imagined that the ants were a pastoral tribe! But a question here presents itself of some interest:—Do the pucerons, which I have constantly found in nests of this species, come of their own free will to reside there, or are they brought thither by the ants? the latter appears to me most probable, for the ants are in the habit of carrying them continually from place to place, and are the individuals who receive all the advantages attending this relation.

I am strongly inclined to believe, that the Yellow Ants, and all those who are endowed with the same industry, go in search of these insects through the subterranean galleries they have formed between the roots; that they find them scattered among the grass, and bring them to the nest. I cannot conceive, if this be not the case, why there should be so many of these insects in ant-hills, for they are not equally common elsewhere. I have seldom discovered them under the grass, but they were surrounded by Yellow Ants, who arrive at their haunts by subterranean passages, and who, probably, convey them to their nest in the autumn. They often seized upon them in my presence, and withdrew with them by some obscure path, which proves that these insects are at their complete disposal.

It is more particularly during the bad weather, that they assemble them at the bottom of the nest. In the summer, we more frequently find them at the foot of the plant, contiguous to the ant-hill, where the plants suffer less from drought than when growing upon the very nest; but this is nearly the same as if they were enclosed with the ants, since their habitation extends more within the earth than without.

Four or five species of ants keep pucerons in their abode; but less constantly, and in much smaller number, than the Yellow Ants, as they obtain a portion of their subsistence from those inhabiting trees. There are some, who reach the branches, loaded with these insects, under a covered way of earth, leading directly from their nest. Here the ants are as well furnished with food as if they kept the pucerons in their own dwelling; and as often as they wish to bring these insects to their nest, they can accomplish it without the knowledge of other ants, and without incurring any risk. The Red, the Brown, the Turf Ant, and another species, excessively small, are always, during Autumn, Winter, and Spring, in the possession of pucerons. The latter, which we might name the microscopic ant, for it is only half a line in length, equally finds pucerons proportioned to its size: they are of a white colour, and a little larger than the ant itself. The pucerons then are the domestic animals of the ants: the latter collect these insects around them, as we collect those animals which administer to our wants, near the habitation in which we reside. The animals which are subject to our controul, know the voice of man; the pucerons and the gall insects understand, as it should seem, the language of ants, and furnish them with their aliment, unconstrained. There are several other insects which live among ants, although they do not appear to be of any service to them; these are, woodlice, earwigs, and certain larvæ of the scarabæi. The ants, from being accustomed to their sight, permit their residence among them; they never do them any injury, which is the more singular, as ants pass in general for beings of an irritable disposition.

But what is invariable, what I have always witnessed respecting the Yellow Ants, and what it is of some importance to know, is, that they have pucerons in their nests, and that they never destroy them: they, on the contrary, bring them together, to enjoy more conveniently, the fluid which these insects furnish them.

If these ants display, in this respect, an industry worthy of man, there are others, whose proceedings are not less remarkable, and who appear to take possession of the pucerons, which feed on the branches of trees, and the stalks of herbaceous plants. The ants, extremely jealous in preserving these insects, and especially those who reside near them, will not suffer any strangers to come and dispute with them the nourishment they offer. They drive them off with their mandibles, become uneasy and restless, and pass over the branch with every mark of anger. They sometimes take these insects in their mouths, to guard them from the attacks of other ants: more frequently, they station a guard around them; and when they are enabled to do so, they put them out of the reach of their rivals, by a very ingenious method, of which I have seen many examples.

I observed one day on the stem of a thistle, a little sphere or lodgment, which the ants had fabricated with earth; they quitted it by an extremely narrow aperture formed in the bottom, descended along the stalk, and passed into a neighbouring ant-hill. I destroyed one part of this tent, constructed almost in air, to see the interior, which consisted of a little hall, whose sides of a vaulted form, were smooth and compact. The ants had availed themselves of the form of the plant, to sustain this edifice; the stem passed through the centre of the apartment, and its leaves composed the whole of the carpentry. This retreat contained an extensive family of pucerons, from whom the Brown Ants peaceably received their food, sheltered from the rain and sun, and safe from the invasion of foreign ants; no insect could disturb them, and the pucerons were not exposed to the attacks of their various enemies. I admired this trait of their industry; but I soon observed it on a more extensive scale, and with greater interest, among ants of a different species.

Some Red Ants had constructed around the foot of a thistle a cylinder of earth, two inches and a half in length, by one and a half in breadth. The ant-hill lay below, and communicated directly with this tunnel. I took the branch, with its contents, and found that portion of the stem comprised in the tunnel, furnished with pucerons. I presently saw go out, by the opening which I had made at its base, a few ants, who seemed much astonished at the light appearing in that place. I perceived they were living there with their larvæ; they transported them in a hurry, to the upper part of the cylinder, which had not been injured. It was here they kept at their disposal, their joint stock of pucerons, and here they nourished their little ones.

In another spot, several stems of a thistle, loaded with pucerons, rose from the very centre of an ant-hill, inhabited by Brown Ants, who, availing themselves of the particular disposition of the leaves of this plant, had constructed around the branches, several little oblong houses, where they came to procure their food. On my destroying one of these houses, the ants carried off immediately into their nest the little animals they so much valued. A few days after, I saw it repaired, and the cattle brought back to their paddock. These houses are not always constructed close to the ground: I saw one once five feet above the surface, which merits being described; it consisted of a short blackish tunnel, which surrounded a small branch of a poplar-tree, at that place where it quitted the trunk. The ants arrived at this spot by passing through the interior of the tree, which was hollow, and thus screened from observation, they reached their pucerons by an opening at the beginning of the branch. The tunnel was formed of decayed wood, and of the earth about the tree. I saw several ants engaged in bringing pellets in their mouths, to repair the breaches I had made. These proceedings are by no means of common occurrence; we cannot attribute them to an habitual routine.

There are some ants who receive their nourishment from the pucerons inhabiting the common plantain: they are generally stationed under the flower; but when this falls to the ground, and the stem withers, which happens about the end of August, they retire for shelter under the radical leaves of the plant; the ants follow, and enclose them, by walling up with moist earth all the space between the ground and the margin of the leaves; they afterwards excavate the ground, to have more room to approach these insects, and pass from thence to their habitation, by covered galleries.

5. Resources of the Ants during Winter.

I am naturally led to speak in this place, of the manner in which ants subsist in winter, since we have relinquished the opinion that they amass wheat and other grain, and that they gnaw the corn to hinder it from germinating. We have endeavoured to explain their preservation, by supposing them to fall into a state of torpor at this period. They, in fact, become torpid during the intense cold, but when the season is not very severe, the depth of their nest guards them from the effects of the frost: they do not become torpid, unless the temperature is reduced to the second degree of Reaumur under the freezing point, (27° Fahrenheit.) I have occasionally seen them walking upon the snow, engaged in their customary avocations. In so reduced a temperature, they would be exposed to the horrors of famine, were they not supplied with food by the pucerons, who, by an admirable concurrence of circumstances, which we cannot attribute to chance, become torpid at precisely the same degree of cold as the ants, and recover from this state also, at the same time: the ants, therefore, always find them when they need them.

Those ants that do not possess the knowledge of the mode of assembling these insects, are, at least, acquainted with their retreat; they follow them to the feet of the trees, and the branches of the shrubs they before frequented, pass at the first degree of frost along the hedges, following the paths which conduct to these insects, and bring back to the republic a small quantity of honey; a very little sufficing for their support in winter.

As soon as the ants recover from their torpid state, they venture forth to procure their food. The aliment contained in their stomach is, on their return, equally distributed to their companions. These juices scarcely evaporate, during this season, owing to the thickness of the horny rings investing the body. I have known ants preserve, during a considerable time, their internal stock of provisions, when they could not impart it to their companions. When the cold increases in a gradual manner, (and this is commonly what the ants experience who are screened from it by a thick wall of earth,) they collect and lie upon each other by thousands, and appear all hooked together. Is this done, in order to provide themselves a little heat? I presume this to be the case, but our thermometers are not sufficiently delicate to indicate if this be really the fact.

6. Of the Eggs of the Pucerons.

The pucerons, which are viviparous in the summer, are oviparous during Autumn. This very remarkable fact is here most fully confirmed.⁠[5] One day, in November, anxious to know if the Yellow Ants began to bury themselves in their subterranean chambers, I destroyed, with care, one of their habitations, story by story. I had not advanced far in this attempt, when I discovered an apartment containing an assemblage of little eggs, which were for the most part of the colour of ebony. Several ants surrounded, and appeared to take great care of them, and endeavoured, as quickly as possible, to convey them from my sight. I seized upon this chamber, its inhabitants, and the treasure it contained.

The ants did not abandon these eggs to make their escape; a stronger instinct retained them: they hastened to conceal them under the small dwelling, which I held in my hand, and when I reached home, I drew them from it, to observe them more attentively. Viewed with a microscope, they appeared nearly of the form of ants’ eggs, but their colour was entirely different; the greater part were black; others were of a cloudy yellow. I found them in several ant-hills, and obtained them of different degrees in shade; they were not all black and yellow; some were brown, of a slight, and also of a brilliant red and white; others were of a colour less distinct, as a straw colour, greyish, &c. I remarked they were not of the same colour at both extremities.

To observe them more closely, I placed them in the cover of a box faced with glass; they were collected in a heap, like the eggs of ants; their guardians seemed to value them highly; after having visited them, they placed one part in the earth, but I witnessed the attention they bestowed upon the rest: they approached them slightly separating their pincers, passed their tongue between each, extended them, then walked alternately over them, depositing, I believe, a liquid substance as they proceeded. They appeared to treat them exactly as if they were eggs of their own species; they touched them with their antennæ, and frequently carried them in their mouths; they did not quit these eggs a single instant; they took them up, turned them, and after having surveyed them with affectionate regard, conveyed them, with extreme tenderness, to the little chamber of earth I had placed at their disposal. They were not, however, the eggs of ants; we know that these are extremely white, becoming transparent, as they increase in age, but never acquire a colour essentially different.⁠[6] I was, for a long time, unacquainted with the origin of those of which I have just spoken, and by chance, discovered they contained little pucerons; but it was not these individual eggs I saw them quit, it was other eggs, which were a little larger, found in the nests of Yellow Ants, and of a particular species. On opening the ant-hill, I discovered several chambers, containing a great number of brown eggs, the ants were extremely jealous of them, carrying them away, and quickly too, to the bottom of the nest, disputing and contending for them with a zeal which left me no doubt of the strong attachment with which they regard them.

Desirous of conciliating their interests, as well as my own, I took the ants and their treasure, and placed them in such a manner that I might easily observe them. These eggs were never abandoned. The ants took the same care of them as the former. The following day I saw one of these eggs open, and a puceron fully formed, having a large trunk, quit it. I knew it to be a puceron of the oak: the others were disclosed a few days after, and the greater number in my presence. They set immediately about sucking the juice from some branches of the tree I gave them, and the ants now found, within their reach, a recompense for their care and attention.

The ant-hill, whence these eggs had been taken, was situated at the foot of an oak, which readily accounts for their existence in that place. I discovered them in the spring; the pucerons which quitted them were very large, for insects just born, but they had not yet obtained their full size. M. Bonnet, to whom we are indebted for many important discoveries upon the pucerons and their generation, speaks of their eggs, which he has often seen affixed to the branches of trees; he believes that the insect, in a state nearly perfect, quits the body of its mother in that covering which shelters it from the cold in winter, and that it is not, as other germs are, in the egg, surrounded by food, by means of which it is developed and supported. It is nothing more than an asylum of which the pucerons born at another season have no need: it is on this account some are produced naked, others enveloped in a covering. The mothers are not then truly oviparous, since their young are almost as perfect as they ever will be, in the asylum in which Nature has placed them at their birth. M. Bonnet vainly attempted to preserve these kind of eggs in his chamber until the spring; he imagines, that to have attained this end, they should have been kept in a certain degree of humidity, which would have happened to them in a state of nature.

It appears, then, that ants know every thing that is necessary to the preservation of these eggs; they pass their tongue constantly over them, and invest them with a glutinous matter, which retains them together. They, in consequence, are preserved until the period when the pucerons quit them: they employ then the same means to preserve their covey, if I may use this expression, that M. Bonnet supposed would preserve these eggs, and secure their disclosure in the spring. We have reason to believe that this celebrated man would have admired with us this part of their industry, if natural history had not lost in him her most worthy contemplator.