"In this fresh embarrassment the labourer-ants did not forsake it: they removed the satin-like pellicle which embraced every part of the body, drew the antennæ gently from their investment; then disengaged the feet and the wings, and lastly, the body, with the abdomen and its peduncle. The insect was now in a condition to walk, and receive nourishment, for which it appeared there was urgent need; the first attention, therefore, paid it by the guardians was that of giving it the food I had placed within their reach."
It is droll to add, and it may be some of our readers may feel somewhat abashed at the fact, that these labourer-ants are extremely particular in the observance of great order and regularity in their chambers; and they therefore carefully sweep up all the cast-off coverings, which are collected together, and deposited in one of the most distant lodges of their habitation. Could man, with all the powers of reason, and the faculties of an immortal being, have evinced a more striking instance of careful, gentle, and patient assistance in the hour of need than we see manifested in the case of these insects? Alas! how often does man need to come to them to learn not only a lesson of wisdom and order, but of the tenderest sympathy and affection. How often lies a poor fellow-creature in the bondage of hopeless poverty, or in the embarrassment of inextricable difficulties! How seldom does his emergency meet with that resolute and thorough-minded earnestness of brotherly love, which will patiently give him help and pity, until his troubles are surmounted, and his steps set free!
It is time that we spoke somewhat upon the extrication of insects from their pupa cases, even when under water. Here arises a great difficulty;--the wings of the insects thus placed, if wet with water, would be unfitted for flight, and would probably frequently lead to the death of the insect by drowning. Yet it is to leave its sub-aqueous abode, mount up through the waves overhead, and finally emerge without a drop of water clinging to its body, and from the glassy surface of the water it is to take its flight into the air. Some will be tempted to exclaim,--"This is a clear impossibility!" Far from it. The little worm so well known to anglers as the "caddis-worm," performs this feat with the greatest ease, and in the following manner:--