NATURE'S CRAFTSMEN 



cuts. In ants, the alimentary or intestinal canal passes 

 as a nearly straight tube through the thorax into the 

 abdomen. There it has two special expansions, the crop 

 and the stomach, which are united by the gizzard. The 

 crop is in the fore-part of the abdomen ; the canal opens 



DETAIL OF THK ABDOMEN OF A HONEY-BEARER 



directly into it, and therein the gathered nectar is first 

 stored. Its elasticity, great in all ants, is highly developed 

 in the Melligers, and it admits of immense expansion. 



The walls of the abdomen which contain the above 

 parts are composed of ten hard, chitinous, segmental 

 plates, five dorsal and five A^entral. These overlap one 

 another, like roofing slates, from base to apex. They 

 are set upon a strongly nmscular inner membranous 

 lining, which, like the crop, is highly elastic. In or- 

 dinary condition this inner coat does not show, and the 

 ant's abdomen appears as a solid subcylindrical object. 

 But in excessive feeding the crop expands, and, pressing 

 upward and downward, forces apart the segmental 



no 



