HVMENOPTERA. 



379 



)domen, as in Fonera; their larvae spin a silky cocoon. They have 

 ) sting, but they pour into the wounds made by their mandibles an 

 .id liquor, the pungeni smell of which is well known. This liquid 

 ; formic acid, a natural product, which the chemist now-a-days 

 ^lows how to make artificially, by the action of dilute sulphuric acid 



FiiT -561.— Sections of an Ant's Nest. 



maize and other vegetable matters. Their whole body is im- 

 P^gnated with this acid, and has a strong sour smell. Some people 

 lis to chew ants, on account of their sourish taste. " They also 

 nke," says Charles de Geer, "creams for side-dishes, to which these 

 a s give, they say, the taste of lemon-juice." We know, in the south 

 France, people who have eaten these C7'emes aux four mis / Folyer- 

 i forms a sub-genus of Formica. 

 In all these species, the workers, or neuters, have the charge of 



