Search Results - The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online

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A761.15 Beagle Library: Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 15: Insecta (2). Text

again, according to M. Huber, by an instinct peculiarly their own. They turn round about it, examine its position, and, in fact, adopt every measure which prudence can suggest, to prevent them losing their way, before they issue forth, for the first time, from their dwelling, The queen bee does the same, when she flies out of the hive for the purposes of reproduction. But the winged ants, when they quit the nest, turn their backs upon it at once, and proceed forward in a right line, until it

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A761.15 Beagle Library: Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 15: Insecta (2). Text

, in which all the individuals of the population take an active part. Many females can live without experiencing any rivalship, or suffering any injury, in the same nest. They contribute equally to the increase of the society, but are possessed of no power, or influence: authority exclusively belongs to the neuter ants. The naturalist whom we have just cited, gives to the females the title of queen. He preserved, from the month of November to the end of April, some yellow ants, with one of their

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A761.15 Beagle Library: Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 15: Insecta (2). Text

sense of smell to the ants, M. Huber presumes that other means, such as the inspection of objects, the memory of localities, or some other causes to us unknown, may enable these insects to recognize their way. He has sometimes amused himself, by disposing in the middle of a chamber, the debris of a small ant-hill of earth. The ants spread themselves on all sides, and wandered in every direction at hazard; but when one of them had discovered some cleft in the floor, or some other place of safety

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A761.15 Beagle Library: Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 15: Insecta (2). Text

ants, mounted on the natural projections of the soil, struggled two by two, holding by their mandibles, and opposite to each other. A greater number were brought out, attacked, and dragged along as prisoners. The latter made vain efforts to escape, as if they had foreseen that when arrived at the hostile ant-hill, they would experience a cruel fate. The field of battle was two or three feet square: a penetrating odour was exhaled from all quarters. A number of ants were to be seen there dead, and

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A761.15 Beagle Library: Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 15: Insecta (2). Text

which naturally presents itself to the mind. To find the explanation of it has led M. Huber to the discovery of many other facts far more strange. Having one day turned up the earth of which the habitation of these ants was composed, he found some aphides in their nest. The roots also of the gramineous plants which shaded the ant-hill, presented some others of different species, and assembled in families tolerably numerous. The ants seemed 13 [page] 47

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A761.15 Beagle Library: Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 15: Insecta (2). Text

, and when the reverse is the case they testify their disappointment. Having shut up thirty amazon ants with the larv and nymphs of their own species, and twenty of the ash-coloured larv in a glass hive; having again put a little honey into a corner of their prison, but without associating any auxiliary ants with them, most part of them died of hunger in less than two days. The others were languishing and weak; but having given them one of their companions of the ash-coloured species, the latter

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A761.15 Beagle Library: Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 15: Insecta (2). Text

some of them in the trunks of hollow trees; one large species selects the savannahs, and enters the earth through a small aperture. The sugar-cane ants, of which we are now speaking, place their nests between the roots of the canes, of the lemon, and the orange-trees. It is in making their nests between the roots of plants, that these insects become hurtful. Castles informs us that there was much difficulty in preserving cold meat from their attacks. The largest dead animals were carried off

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A761.15 Beagle Library: Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 15: Insecta (2). Text

arrive, and cast themselves upon the fire; and they continued to come, until the fire was totally extinguished by the dead insects, which entirely covered the coals. In consequence of this, hollows were formed in the earth at certain distances from each other, in which fires were made; the ants immediately threw themselves upon them, and when any of the fires was extinguished, the mass of insects which had perished in this manner was so great, that it formed a hillock elevated above the level

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A761.15 Beagle Library: Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 15: Insecta (2). Text

directions. That which is inferior in number, perceiving the inequality of their forces, will return back, and join the other. If the two troops are pretty nearly equal in number, they will go separately to plunder, and each return loaded with booty: they succeed more by the impetuosity of their attack, and the terror which they inspire in the ash-coloured ants, than by their actual degree of strength. M. Huber has seen an army, composed, at the most, of but a hundred and fifty of these amazons, attack

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A761.15 Beagle Library: Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 15: Insecta (2). Text

is ever to be seen in their cells. The mining ants are a little larger than the ash-coloured, and although approximating to them in the mode in which they construct their habitations, differ, nevertheless, in their manners. They are lively, carnivorous, and extremely courageous, while the others are timid and pacific. Accordingly the mining ants, when attacked by the amazons, defend their property obstinately, and do not fear to measure weapons with their aggressors. They attack them with fury

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A761.15 Beagle Library: Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 15: Insecta (2). Text

auxiliary ants, these same organs have the ordinary proportions and distinctions. M. Huber has observed, but rather rarely, among the amazons, some individuals of the size of the females, larger than the neuters, but otherwise similar to them in the forms of the body and other characters. He has never seen them mix with these latter individuals in their excursions, and he suspects that they are females, but with peculiar modifications, so that these individuals form the passage from the

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A761.15 Beagle Library: Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 15: Insecta (2). Text

from all these facts, that the larv and nymphs which have been kidnapped from their native soil by the amazons, and transported into their habitation, have undergone their metamorphoses there, and are the same auxiliary ants which we now find there in such numbers. The very striking dissimilarities which we observe, on a comparative examination of these insects in their perfect state, ought also to be again observed in their nymphs; for the organization of these nymphs, though under contracted

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A761.15 Beagle Library: Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 15: Insecta (2). Text

they were returning to their domicile loadedwith the fruits of their victories; he has carefully examined the nymphs which they were carrying, and been perfectly satisfied that they were all of the working class. From the nature of the architecture which the mixed formicaries exhibit, where the ash-coloured species is domiciliated, we can easily discover that the ants of this species are the sole architects. The general form and internal arrangement of their ant-hills are the same as those of

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A761.15 Beagle Library: Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 15: Insecta (2). Text

same family. They place their eggs in the nests of the latter, and their young ones are nourished and developed there, at the expense of the posterity of the others. The alimentary subtances deposited in these retreats are preserved until the larv of these parasite apiari are transformed into nymphs. The food of the larv of ants is more liquid, more various, and must be renewed daily. The young ants must be fed by the mouth. Their situation, in other respects, calls for other [page break

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A761.08 Beagle Library: Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 8: Aves (3). Text

but the hen, which always remains shut up, serves as a rallying point for the young pheasants, and by continually calling them back, prevents them from wandering. Eggs of ants should, if possible, constitute their constant food for the first month; it is even dangerous to dispense with them altogether; but the difficulty of procuring them, in sufficient abundance, renders it necessary to find out some substitute; hard eggs, mixed with crumb of bread, and a little lettuce, will answer pretty

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A761.09 Beagle Library: Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 9: Reptilia. Text

Many other serpents, as well as this, are partial to ants. In France, the coluber austriaca is sometimes found in the ant-hills, where it goes for the purpose of feeding on these insects, and, not improbably, to conceal itself during the winter season. This amphisb na has from two hundred and twenty to two hundred and thirty and odd rings around the body, and from sixteen to eighteen around the tail. Its length is about a foot and a half, of which the tail scarcely forms the twelfth part. The

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A761.10 Beagle Library: Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 10: Pisces. Text

considerably from that of the chelmon in its organization, it knows how in the same manner to shoot drops of water to a great height, three feel and upwards, and to reach, almost without failing, the insects or other little animals which creep on the aquatic plants, or even upon those that grow upon the shore. The inhabitants of many countries of the Indies, especially the Chinese of Java, rear it in their houses to amuse themselves with its manoeuvres, and present it ants or flies on threads

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A761.14 Beagle Library: Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 14: Insecta (1). Text

hymenoptera, principally in ants, wasps, bees, and in some neuroptera or hemiptera, as the termites and pucerons. It is seldom that insects of one and the same species live in pairs, or in a state of monogamy. The necessity of fecundation alone brings them together for a very short time; shortly after this function is performed the male perishes, but the female survives until after the eggs have been laid. It would seem that the early age of the insect is employed in the elaboration of those

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A761.14 Beagle Library: Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 14: Insecta (1). Text

or nymphs of the neuter ants in the habitation, and transport them, still pursuing the same order, to their own proper domicile. Other neuter ants of the conquered species, born among these warriors, and formerly kidnapped in their larva state, take care of the newly-imported larv , as well as of the posterity of their ravishers. We might enter here into many further details concerning the societies of insects, only that our limits forbid it, and that they will come with more propriety under

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A761.15 Beagle Library: Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 15: Insecta (2). Text

industry and mode of living. These insects, which have been called white ants, and many other analogous names, have, in truth, many relations to the ants. Like them they live in societies, composed of three sorts of individuals; like them, they build nests, but still more extraordinary, and, for the most part, on the superficies of the earth. They issue from these through sub [page] 33