INSECT HERDS AND HERDERS 



shed of mud or wood-dust composite. This is the work 

 of attendant ants who have brought up particles of 

 leaves, flowers, and decayed bark and pellets of soil 

 from the ground, and thus, as one may say, have en- 

 folded their flock. It is interesting to note in ants this 

 behavior, which suggests the presence of a sense of 

 commimal propriety in food-yielding aphids; and— 

 what seems to be a natural sequence therefrom — an 



AN EMMET SHEPHERDESS CARRYING ONE OP HER APHID FLOCK 



impulse to protect their interests from intruders by a 

 process which, to say the least, reminds one of our own 

 way of secluding domestic herds within folds, stock- 

 yards, and corrals. 



This habit especially marks — though not limited there- 

 to — a small black ant (Crematogaster lineolata), which 

 has the odd fashion of doubling up its abdomen above 

 its thorax as it walks, thus winning for itself the popular 

 name of "turn-belly." 



Aphids are not the only insects thus utilized. Afield, 

 the larvae of certain butterflies that yield an agreeable 

 s 51 



