M. Latreille very justly observes that it is physically impossible for the rufescent ants (Polyergus rufescens), on account of the form of their jaws and the accessory parts of the mouth, either to prepare habitations for their family, to procure food, or to feed them.—Considérations nouvelles, &c. p. 408.
[87] See Huber, chap, vii-xi.
[88] The ant ascends the tree, says Linné, that it may milk its cows, the Aphides, not kill them. Syst. Nat. 962. 3.
[89] Huber, 195. I have more than once found these Aphides in the nests of this species of ant.
[90] See Huber, chap. vi. I have found Aphides in the nest of Myrmica rubra. Boisier de Sauvages speaks of ants keeping their own Aphides, and gives an interesting account of them. Journ. de Physique, i. 195.
[91] Gould, 42.
[92] Walking one day early in July in a spot where I used to notice a single nest of Formica rufa, I observed that a new colony had been formed of considerable magnitude; and between it and the original nest were six or seven smaller settlements.
[93] See Huber, chap. iv. § 3.
[94] Gould, 67. De Geer, ii. 1054.