The ant life has four well marked periods:  First, the egg; second, the grub or larva; third, the chrysalis or pupa; fourth, the imago, or perfect insect.  The eggs are small, ovate, yellowish white objects, which hatch in about fifteen to thirty days.  The larvae are small legless grubs, quite large at the apex of the abdomen and tapering toward the head.  Both eggs and pupa are incessantly watched and tended, licked and fed, and carried to a place of safety in time of danger.  The larvae are ingeniously sorted as regards age and size, and are never mixed.  The larvae period generally extends through a month, although often much longer, and in most species when the larvae pass into pupae they spin a cocoon of white or straw color, looking much like a shining pebble.  Other larvae do not spin a cocoon, but spend the pupal state naked.  When they mature they are carefully assisted from their shells by the workers, which also assist in unfolding and smoothing out the legs.  The whole life of the formicary centers upon the young, which proves they have reached a degree of civilization unknown even in some forms of higher life.

It is curious that, notwithstanding the labor of so many excellent observers, and though ants swarm in every field and wood, we should find so much difficulty in the history of these insects, and that so much obscurity should rest upon some of their habits.  Forel and Ebrard, after repeated observations, maintain that in no single instance has an isolated female been known to bring her young to maturity.  This is in direct contradiction to Lubbock’s theory, who repeatedly tried introducing a new fertile queen into another nest of Lasius flavus, and always with the result that the workers became very excited and killed her, even though in one case the nest was without a queen.  Of the other kinds, he isolated two pairs of Myrmica ruginodis, and, though the males died, the queens lived and brought their offspring to perfection; and nearly a year after their captivity, Sir John Lubbock watched the first young workers carrying the larvae about, thereby proving the accuracy of Huber’s statement, with some species at least.  In spite of this convincing testimony, Lepeletier St. Fargeau is of the opinion that the nests originate with a solitary queen, as was first given.

The ants indigenous to Leadville, besides feeding on small flies, insects, and caterpillars—­the carcasses of which they may be seen dragging to their nests—­show the greatest avidity for sweet liquids.  They are capable of absorbing large quantities, which they disgorge into the mouths of their companions.  In winter time, when the ants are nearly torpid and do not require much nourishment, two or three ants told off as foragers are sufficient to provide for the whole nest.  We all know how ants keep their herds in the shape of aphides, or ant cows, which supply them with the sweet liquid they exude.  I have often observed an ant gently stroking