ANIMAL COMMUNITIES AND SOCIAL LIFE 157 



the following spring before the corn is planted. Xow, the 

 common little brown ant lives abundantly in the corn- 

 fields, and is specially fond of the honey secreted by the 

 corn-root plant-louse. So, when the plant-lice hatch in the 

 spring before there are corn roots for them to feed on, the 

 little brown ants with great solicitude carefully place the 

 plant-lice on the roots of a certain kind of knotweed which 

 grows in the field, and protect them until the corn ger- 

 minates. Then the ants remove the plant-lice to the roots 

 of the corn, their favorite food plant. In the arid lands of 

 New Mexico and Arizona the ants rear their scale-insects 

 on the roots of cactus. Other kinds of ants carry plant- 

 lice into their nests and provide them with food there. 

 Because the ants obtain food from the plant-lice and take 

 care of them, the plant-lice are not inaptly called the ants' 

 cattle. 



Like the honey-bees, the young ants are helpless little 

 grubs or larvae, and are cared for and fed by nurses. The 

 so-called ants' eggs, little white, oval masses, which we 

 often see being carried in the mouths of ants in and out of 

 an ants' nest, are not eggs, but are the pupae which are 

 being brought out to enjoy the warmth and light of the 

 sun or being taken back into the nest afterward. 



In addition to the workers that build the nest and col- 

 lect food and care for the plant-lice, there is in many 

 species of ants a kind of individuals called soldiers. These 

 are wingless, like the workers, and are also, like the work- 

 ers, not capable of laying or of fertilizing eggs. It is the 

 business of the soldiers, as their name suggests, to fight. 

 They protect the community by attacking and driving 

 away predaceous insects, especially other ants. The ants 

 are among the most warlike of insects. The soldiers of a 

 community of one species of ant often sally forth and 

 attack a community of some other species. If successful 

 in battle the workers of the victorious community take 

 possession of the food stores of the conquered and carry 



