E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Ants.
“Go to the ant, thou sluggard, … . which provideth her meat in the summer” (Proverbs vi. 6–8; and xxx. 25). The notion that ants in general gather food in harvest for a winter’s store is quite an error; in the first place, they do not live on grain, but chiefly on animal food; and in the next place they are torpid in winter, and do not require food. Colonel Sykes, however, says there is in Poonah a grain-feeding species, which stores up millet-seed; and according to Lubbock and Moggridge, ants in the south of Europe and in Texas make stores.
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What are called “ant eggs” are not eggs, but the pupæ of ants.
What are called “ant eggs” are not eggs, but the pupæ of ants.
