SOCIAL LIFE OF ORGANISMS 



433 



distinct from the workers, and engage in fights with other ants 

 that may invade or approach the entrance of the nest, whether 

 of the same species or of a foreign species (see Fig. 193). In 

 some species of ants the workers are of two distinct sizes and 

 show marked differences in behavior as well as in structure. 



Fig. 230. Honey-pot ants 



In this species of ants, found in California, some of the individuals become reservoirs 

 for honey gathered by the forage workers. These living honey-pots cling to the roof of 

 a chamber by their feet, and receive into their crops the food gathered by the workers. 

 From time to time one of the nurse ants comes to the honey-pot and receives into her 

 crop a quantity of the stored fluid, which she then transfers to the larvae 



In a hive of honeybees the individuals are engaged in 

 several different occupations. Some are building comb, others 

 hang up by their feet and secrete wax plates or scales, 

 others pack pollen into cells, some are feeding the young, 

 and so on. You could probably distinguish the queen bee 

 from the others by her size, but all the workers would look 

 alike to you. Or you might notice that the nurses were more 

 fuzzy than the foragers. This does not mean that there are 

 two distinct kinds of workers. Apparently the workers behave 



