THE ANTS, BEES, AND WASPS 89 



the absence from the hind legs of the former of the pollen- 

 collecting and pollen-carrying organs. It has been observed 

 that the bumblebees sometimes resent the introduction of 

 one of the guest bees into their nest, though they may later 

 become accustomed to it and make no further trouble. 



Solitary Bees. There are solitary bees, just as there are 

 solitary wasps. Their habits are very diverse ; some make 

 nests of mud or dig tunnels in the ground ; some are car- 

 penters, boring into wood ; and others are leaf cutters, 

 taking circular pieces out of leaves, which they use to line 

 their nests. Fig. 58 represents the work of one species, the 

 leaf-cutter bee (Megachi'le latima'nus), which makes long 

 tunnels in wood or in the ground. The eggs are laid singly 

 on a paste of nectar and pollen, which is placed carefully 

 in a leaf-lined cell and covered with a circular lid. Several 

 such cells are generally to be found in one nest. 



Ants. Ants have long been considered models of indus- 

 try. In many respects some of the features of their life 

 history are the most remarkable of anything in the insect 

 world. So specialized have the members of the community 

 become in some cases that there are not only males and 

 females, but large and small workers (workers major and 

 minor), and soldiers for the defense of the colony. Ants 

 build nests in the ground, piling up the material taken out 

 for their burrows in the characteristic ant hills; or they 

 make tunnels in wood. Some inhabit the interior of thorns 

 or the hollow stems of grasses ; others live on certain trees, 

 from which they obtain all their, food, forming a kind of 

 bodyguard which defends the tree from the attacks of 

 various enemies. The food of ants is both animal and 

 vegetable, the former consisting of other insects, the latter 

 of plant fluids. They are also extremely fond of the sweet 

 substance called honeydew, furnished by the aphids and 

 some few other insects. 



