Note 8 — CHAP. II. OF THE EGGS, LARVÆ, AND PUPÆ OF ANTS.

Among those ants I kept in confinement, I observed that considerable bustle prevailed when any of the pupæ were about to quit the cocoon. For the most part, two or three stationed themselves on or near each cocoon. From seeing, more than once, two engaged in the operation of extricating the imprisoned ant from its envelope, I was desirous of ascertaining whether a single worker could accomplish this operation. I therefore placed in a wine glass with a little moistened earth one of the Yellow Ants with three or four pupæ; the first object with this little creature, was that of excavating a chamber for the deposition of its treasure. The pupæ were then brought up, and laid on the surface of the earth, from day to day, to receive the sun’s warmth. In a few days, I saw the scattered remnants of one of the cocoons, and the worker with his assistant engaged in giving liberty to the remaining ants. I did not, at the time, notice whether the pupæ were or were not capable of effecting their own liberation; but according to the statement of De Geer, the pupa dies when neglected by the workers.—T.