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INSECT ORDERS 



They have stings and can also bite with their strong mandibles, although 

 there is no poison injected with the bite. Like the termites, they do not 

 need and do not have wings in the generations that are destined to spend 

 their lives as workers in connection with the nest. However, a winged 

 generation will be produced each spring. Both males and females in 

 large numbers will come out of the nest and fly into the air singly and 

 drop to the earth in pairs. As in the bees, copulation occurs as they fall. 

 The male then wanders around aimlessly a short time and, his purpose in 

 life having been accomplished, dies. The female finds a suitable spot to 

 found another nest and digs a shallow hole in the ground and lays her 

 eggs. She bites her wings off since she will not need them any longer. 

 When the first workers emerge they take over the work and the female 

 becomes their queen and concentrates on egg laying for the rest of her 

 life. 



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Photos by Winchester 



Fig. 17.15. Fleas. The larva is shown on the left, the female adult in the center, and 



the male adult on the right. 



Some species of ants have domesticated the aphids, plant lice, and no 

 domestic animals of man receive better care than they. They are carried 

 out to feed on leaves outside of the nest or the ants may build tunnels to 

 the roots of plants so the aphids can feed underground. In return, the 

 aphids secrete a sweet liquid called "honey dew" which the ants eat. 

 This is another excellent case of symbiosis. Some ants chew up leaves 

 which they use as a base for underground gardens of fungi. The fungus 

 is carefully tended by "gardeners" who keep the spore-bearing bodies 

 cut off so the crop will not go to "seed." The ants eat the vegetative 

 part of the fungus plant. There are many varieties of ants with so many 

 different habits and customs that it would require volumes to describe 

 them, but our limitations of space prevent further discussion here. 



3. Wasps. The wasps are noted for their powerful stings and their 

 ready use of the sting upon those that intrude upon their privacy. Only 



