Note 1 — CHAP. II. OF THE EGGS, LARVÆ, AND PUPÆ OF ANTS.

It would be perhaps more regular to speak of the fecundation of ants, before making known the care and affection they evince for their young. This plan, from which we could not well depart, in speaking of insects that lead a solitary life, is not so natural, when treating of numerous and permanent republics, such as those of ants. It would have been difficult to have mentioned every circumstance connected with the reproduction of the species, before describing the interior of their habitations, and the method I found the most successful in my observations. The education of their young, being the chief end of all their labours, offers, in part, a picture of the manners of these industrious insects. It is for this reason, the plan I now follow appeared the best to elucidate subsequent remarks.—A.