Hardwicke's science-gossip : an illustrated medium of interchange and gossip for students and lovers of nature . govern-ment ; there are no idlersamongst them. They buildpaved cities, construct roads,and sustain a large militaryforce. When one of the youngqueens, or mother ants, comesto maturity, and has receivedthe embraces of the male ant,who immediately dies, shegoes out alone, selects a loca-tion, and goes rapidly to workexcavating a hole in theground, digging and carryingout the dirt with her mouth. As soon as shehas progressed far enough for her wings to strikeagainst the sides of the ho
Hardwicke's science-gossip : an illustrated medium of interchange and gossip for students and lovers of nature . govern-ment ; there are no idlersamongst them. They buildpaved cities, construct roads,and sustain a large militaryforce. When one of the youngqueens, or mother ants, comesto maturity, and has receivedthe embraces of the male ant,who immediately dies, shegoes out alone, selects a loca-tion, and goes rapidly to workexcavating a hole in theground, digging and carryingout the dirt with her mouth. As soon as shehas progressed far enough for her wings to strikeagainst the sides of the hole, she deliberately cutsthem off. She now, without further obstruction,continues to deepen the hole to the depth of G or 7inches, when she widens the bottom of it into asuitable cell for depositing her eggs and nurturingthe young. She continues to labour outdoors andin, until she has raised to maturity 20 to 30 workers,when her labour ceases, and she remains in thecells, supplying the eggs for coming millions, andher kingdom has commenced. But very few of thethousands of mother ants that swarm out from the. * See Proceedings of the Academy of Sciences, Philadelphia,1S66, p. 323, for further particulars. No. 37. different kingdoms two or three times a yearsucceed in establishing a city. However, when onedoes succeed in rearing a sufficient number ofworkers to carry on the business, she entrusts themanagement of the national works to them, and isseen no more outside. The workers all seem to understand the dutiesassigned to them, and will perform them or die inthe effort. The workers increase the concealment, whichhad been kept by the mother ant during the periodof her personal labours, of the passage or gatewayto their city by dragging up and covering it withbits of stick, straw, and the hard black pellets ofearth which are thrown up by the earthworms,until there is no way visible for them to enter; andthe little litter is so ingeniously placed, that it hasmore the appearance of
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