FEEDING THE COMMUNE 



According to Dr. Hunter Corbrtt, in many parts of the 

 province of Canton, where cereals cannot be cultivated 

 profitably, the land is given up to orange-trees. These 

 are subject to attack by a species of "worms" -the 

 specific name is not given which work serious injury 

 in the orange orchards. A peculiar mode of protection 

 from these enemies is adopted by the proprietors, ap- 

 parently suggested by the fact that the injurious larvae 

 are preyed upon by certain ants native to the orangeries. 

 But these are not bred in sufficient numbers to be of 

 much practical advantage. Resort was therefore had 

 to the "hill-people" of the countries, who find the ant 

 nests suspended from the branches of the bamboo and 



A. Synthetic figure exhibiting the entire course of the alimentary 

 canal in ants. 



B to J compose a series illustrating the progressive distention 

 of the crop from its normal condition to that of the honey-bearer. 



In C and F the crop is normal. 



In B and E (workers-major or semi-rotunds) the distention is well 

 advanced. In F the crop has shrunk after distention. G shows 

 the same process in the abdomen of a worker-minor. 



H. Abdomen of a honey-bearer, opened at a slit (s), to punc- 

 ture the crop, and show by its shrinking that it had filled the abdomi- 

 nal cavity. / shows the full crop of a honey-bearer with the lower 

 part of the alimentary canal shown through the abdominal wall 

 against which it is pressed. 



J is the abdomen of a honey-bearer, wherein the full crop has 

 pressed the gizzard, stomach, etc., into the cloacal cavity. / and 

 J were apparently in normal health. 



K is an abdomen of Camponotus inflatus, the Australian car- 

 penter ant, which exhibits the characteristic distention of At. 

 hortideorum. Drawn from alcoholic specimen. Other specimens 

 are quite spherical. 



Key to lettering, uniform in all figures: ab, abdomen; ab pi d, 

 abdominal plate dorsal; ab pi v, abdominal plate ventral; an, anus; 

 be, buccal or mouth sac; col, colon; gz, gizzard; il, ileum; in, intestine; 

 m th, mesothorax; met th, metothorax; mpg, malpighian tubes; nd, 

 node; ce, oesophagus; pr th, prothorax; px, pharynx; re, rectum; 

 stm, stomach. 



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