ANSER, the Goose, a genus of birds which M. Brisson separated from the genus Anas of Linnaus. Brisson has beeu followed in this by Baron envier, Vieillot, Lesson, Drapiez, and Fleming ; while Latham adheres to Linnaeus, and Temminek confines Amur to a section of A nas. [Goose.] ANT (Formica), a well-known genus of insects, which has attracted attention from the earliest ages, on account of the singular economy and extraordinary industry manifested by the different specie& In the present article we shall confine ourselves to a brief but methodical outline of their natural history. In tracing the history of most ituseets, it is best, perhaps, to begin with the eggs; but in the case of the ant, the laying and hatching of the eggs could not be well understood without an acquaintance with their singular manner of pairing, with which, therefore, we shall begin.
Pairing of A nts.—1 t may be necessary to premise here, that, similar to bees, a community of ants, whatever the species may be, consists of males, which have always four wings; of females, much larger in size than the males, which only possess wings during the pairing season ; and of a sort of barren remelts, which have been variously termed neuters, workers, or nurse-ants, and which, so far as we know, have never been observed to have wings in any stage of their existence.
If an ant-hill ho examined any time after midsummer up to the close of autumn, there may be seen, mixed with the wingloss workers, a number of both males and females furnished with white glistening wings. These however are neither kings nor queens in the state, at least no far as freedom of action is concerned, for they are not allowed to move without a guard of workers to prevent their leaving the boundaries, and if one straggles away unawares, it is for the most part dragged back by the vigilant sentinels, three or four of whom may, in such cases, be seen hauling along a single deserter by the wings and limbs. The workers, so far from ever facilitating the exit, much less the departure of the winged ones, more particularly the females, guard them most assiduously in order to prevent it; and are only forced to acquiesce in it when the winged ones become too numerous either to be guarded or fed. There seems indeed to be a uniform disposition in the winged ones to desert their native colony : and as they never return after pairing, it would soon become depopulated in the absence of females. The actual pairing does not seem to take place within the ant-hill, and we have observed scouts posted all around, ready to discover and carry back to the colony as marry fertile females as they could meet with. Nay, we are quite certain that whole colonies have
been thus dispersed ; and when they did not find fertile females near their encampment, they have gone farther and farther till they found them, and, if they had gone very far, never returned, but commenced a number of new establishments, according to their convenience. It is probable that, soon after pairing, the males die, as do the males of bees and other insects; for, as the workers never bring any of them back, nor take any notice of them after leaving the antehill, they must perish, being entirely defenceless, and destitute both of a sting and of mandibles to provide for their subsistence. The subsequent proceed ings of the females are very different, and of curious interest. It was supposed by the ancients that all tufts, at a certain age, acquired wings; but it was reserved for the younger Huber, in particular, by means of his artificial formicaries, to trace the development of the wings in the female from the first commencement, till he saw them stripped off and laid aside like cast clothes.
This curious prove s, which was first hinted at by Gould in his interesting account of English Ants,' we have repeatedly witnessed —the females extending their wings, bringing them over their beads, crossing them in every direction, and throwing them to aide, till at length they are disjointed from the kody and fall of Foundation of Colonies.—Some of the females are, after pairing, usually captured by the working ants, and conducted back to the parent community; and others are laid hold of by, straggling parties of from two to a doien workers, who do not return to the parent community, but commence small colonies on their own account. This explains the common occurrence of a great number of small colonies being formed in the immediate vicinity of each other, while sometimes the parent community is thereby quite broken up, and the hill deserted. This happens frequently in the case of the Red Ant (M,yrmica rubra) and the Ash-Coloured Ant (Formica flaw), both very common species in fields and gardens. In the case of the Yellow Ant (F. flare) again,. and the Wood-Ant (F. rufa), this rarely occurs, the parent community often remaining in the same spot for years together.