346 



THE ANIMAL KINGDOM 



Figure 17.19. Castes of ants. A, Female (queen), after shedding wings. B, Male. Note 

 large eyes and long antennae. C, Soldier. D, Worker (stunted workers may be still smaller). 

 E, Honey-ant, which hangs motionless in the nest, is fed excessively when food is plentiful, 

 and serves as a food source when food is scarce. The last three categories are all sterile 

 females. 



and they leave in a mass flight as soon as they are mature. The mechan- 

 ism by which they are produced is not known. 



Ants. The ant colony is founded by a winged queen, the only 

 reproductive of the colony, after she has mated with a winged male 

 upon leaving the parent colony. She sheds her wings and uses the 

 nourishment of stored fat and degenerating wing muscles to produce 

 the first group of workers, which are small, stunted individuals. They 

 take care of subsequent young and do all the work of the colony. They 

 leave the nest and gather food, nourishment becomes plentiful, and 

 the later offspring are of normal size. Most of the larvae mature as 

 workers, but in various species other kinds (called castes), such as sol- 



