In many species there is a second and larger kind of 

 worker, the difference in size varying with the species, for 

 whilst in Lasius niger there is not much difference between 

 the two kinds, in the meadow-ant, Formica flava, the large 

 workers are nearly twice the size of the small ones, and 

 sometimes the difference is still greater. In the genus 

 Pheidole of Southern Europe, some workers have very large 

 heads so as to give plenty of room for the muscles of the 

 jaw which are largely developed, as they seem to be the 

 soldiers of the community. A Mexican species, called the 

 honey-ant, uses these workers as honey jars in which to 

 store up the honey collected in summer to supply food for 

 the larvae in the winter. In their bodies the honey under- 

 goes a kind of distillation so as to become something like 

 mead. Some species, though they cannot sting, can eject 

 the poison which is secreted in their bodies to a great 

 distance, — I think it has been stated to as far as eighteen 

 inches — and this seems to have almost as bad an effect as the 

 sting itself. The acid of ants, called Formic acid, is the 

 same as that which is secreted by stinging-nettles, and is 

 very similar to acetic acid. 



Queen-ants are produced only by a difference in the food 

 given to them in the larval stage, as there is no apparent 

 difference in the eggs, and this idea is supported by the fact 

 that queens are rarely, if ever, produced from larvae which 

 have been hatched and brought up in captivity, in which 

 state the ants would not have access to all the different kinds 

 of food which they would obtain in their natural condition. 



The queen is naturally the only individual in the nest 

 which lays eggs, but sometimes in a queen-less colony some 

 of the workers lay eggs which, however, never produce other 

 than male ants. 



Ants have been proved by Sir John Lubbock to live 

 for as many as six years, and probably longer, though 

 the previous idea was that they died after about twelve 

 months. He has also had two queens since 1874, ^"^ ^" ^^^^ 

 they were still laying fertile eggs. 



I 



