BEES, WASPS, ANTS, ETC. 



517 



there are in this species no less than five classes of individuals, namely: 1, males; 2, 

 queens; 3, small ordinary workers; 4, large workers, with very large hairy heads; 5, 

 large workers with large polished heads." 



The habits of ants have been studied by many observers. The observations of Sir 

 John Lubbock are, however, the most extended. He has kept in captivity a large 

 number of species (about half of the British forms as well as a considerable number of 

 foreign species), and during the last few years he has had from thirty to forty com- 

 munities under observation in artificial nests, some of which have been under con- 

 tinuous observation for eight or ten years. The following generalizations respecting 

 the family are drawn largely from his publications. 



The eggs are white or yellowish and somewhat elongated. They are said to hatch 

 in about fifteen days after being laid. Those observed by Lubbock have taken a 

 month or six weeks. The larvae, like those of bees and wasps, are small, white, legless 

 grubs, somewhat conical in form, being narrow towards the head. They are carefully 



FIG. 648. (Ecodoma cephalotes, sauba ant. 



tended and fed, being carried about from chamber to chamber by the workers, prob- 

 ably in order to secure the most suitable amount of warmth and moisture. The larvae 

 are very often assorted in groups in the nest according to size, " so that they remind 

 one of a school divided into five or six classes." 



The length of life of the larvae is known to vary in different species from one to 

 several months. It varies also in the same species according to the season, develop- 

 ment being more rapid in the summer months. 



" When full grown the larvae turn into pupae, sometimes naked, sometimes covered 

 with a silken cocoon, constituting the so-called ' ant eggs.' We do not yet understand 

 why some larvae spin cocoons, while others remain naked. As a general rule the species 

 which have not a sting spin a cocoon, while those which have are naked. Latreille 

 was the first to observe that in one species (Formica fusca) the larva sometimes spins 

 a cocoon and sometimes remains naked." The ants generally remain from three to 

 four weeks in the pupa state, The pupae are unable to emerge from the cocoons with- 

 out the assistance of the workers. "It is very pretty to see the older ants helping 



