[132] Cuvier says that some have been known nearly a foot long, but not more.
[133] He alludes to the ravages committed by the swarms of the migratory locust, Grillus migratorius of Linnæus.
[134] Julius Obsequens speaks of a pestilence there, created by the dead bodies of the locusts, which caused the death of 8000 persons.
[135] See also B. vi. c. 35.
[136] What are commonly called ants’ eggs, are in reality their larvæ and nymphæ. Enveloped in a sort of tunic, these last, Cuvier says, are like grains of corn, and from this probably has arisen the story that they lay up grains against the winter, a period through which in reality they do not eat.
[137] They stow away bits of meat and detached portions of fruit, to nourish their larvæ with their juices.
[138] It is in reality their larvæ that they thus bring out to dry. The working ants, or neutrals, are the ones on which these labours devolve: the males and females are winged, the working ants are without wings.
[139] “Ad recognitionem mutuam.”
[140] Some modern writers express an opinion that when they meet, they converse and encourage one another by the medium of touch and smell.
[141] See B. v. c. 31.