SOME REPRESENTATIVE INSECTS 



395 



insects represent the one other part of the Animal Kingdom in 

 which anything approaching the complexity of human society 

 exists. 1 From the standpoint of animal intelligence, the social 

 insects are interesting for the extreme development of their 

 " instinctive " forms of behavior, which are interpreted as inher- 

 ited reflexes so definitely fixed in their nature that they are auto- 

 matic and hardly modifiable. Intelligence, in the sense of indi- 



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Fiu. 208. — A study in ecology: showing how ants foster the corn root aphid. 



These aphids, which are cared for by the ants in their nests during the winter, are carried 

 through tunnels to the corn phmts and placed on the roots in the spring. Hence, anything 

 that will disturb or destroy the ant colonies of a field will reduce the number of aphids 

 and promote the growth of corn (<■/. Fig. 305, p. 550). (From Farmers' Bulletin No. 891, 

 U. S Dept. Agr.) 



viduality and modifiability of responses, is better represented by 

 forms like the solitary wasps and the ichneumons, although even 

 here the individuality that has been claimed by some students 

 of their activities is perhaps exaggerated. 



In concluding this account of the Insecta as members of the 

 Phylum Arthropoda, we may recall the points of resemblance 



' Elaborate societies are also found among the " white ants," or termites. 

 As these are not Hymenoptera but members of the Order Platijpiera, their 

 social organization must represent an independent evolution. 



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