ANTS' NESTS.' 



By Dr. August Forel. 



A nest is a temporary or j)ermanent, naturally or artiticially formed 

 hiding' place, which serves as a dwelling- for an animal and its family 

 or for a more numerou-s- society of animals. The nest is also intended, 

 at the same time, for ]»rote('tion against enemies and against the inclem- 

 ency of the weather and of the temperature. There are, however, not 

 only purely natural nests (such as natural caves and hollows) and 

 purely artificial nests (such as blackbirds' nests), but also, in numy 

 cases, mingled forms, where natuial hiding places are completed by 

 artificial heli). Nests may also be divided into transient or season nests 

 and permanent nests. 



Now, in the case of animals which live in large societies, such as 

 beavers, wasps, and ants, the nest becomes a complicated building or 

 labyrinth. Tliere are also elaborate and rough primitive nests. 



The ants, or Formicida', form a great family of the insect order of the 

 Hymenoptera. They number upwards of two thousand known species, 

 distributed throughout the whole earth, which form about one hundred 

 and fifty genera. All species of ants live in societies, and almost all 

 display a peculiar so-called polymori)hism; tliat is, every species con- 

 sists, not only of a female, usually winged, and a male, usually winged, 

 differing extremely from each other in the whole structure of their 

 bodies, but also of other individuals without wings, which are offspring 

 of the female sex, and are called "workers." The division, however, 

 goes still further in certain species, the "worker" caste being subdi- 

 vided into two kinds — differing greatly in their physical structure — 

 "workers" and " soldiers." r>etween these there are species with inter- 

 mittent Avorkers, the largest of which resemble the "soldiers;" that is, 

 form a phylogenetic precursor to the "soldiers." 



Most of the female and male ants are winged, and copulate in the 

 air or in the tops of trees; but at least one of the sexes is always 

 winged. The new colonies are almost invariably founded by a pregnant 

 I'emale, or by several such, as has already been stated by Huber, and 



'Translation of Die Nester der Anieisen. Yon Dr. August Ford, professor in 

 Zmicii. Jseujalirsblatt der Naturforscheudeu Gescllschaft zu Zurich, 18'J3. 



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