2S6 POISONOUS INSECTS 



Among insects there are few, if any, whose habits are more inter- 

 esting than those of ants. They hve in large communities; build 

 houses ; they make roads ; some of them keep other insects, just as we 

 keep cows: and some of them even have slaves. 



No two species of ants have the same habits; and on various 

 accounts their mode of life is far from easy to unravel. Most of their 

 time is passed underground; all the tending of the young, for instance, 

 is carried on in the dark. 



The life of an ant falls into four well-marked periods — those of 

 the egg, of the larva or grub, of the pupa or chrysalis and of the perfect 

 insect or imago. The eggs are white or yellowish, and somewhat 

 elongated. They are generally said to be hatched about fifteen days 

 after being laid. 



The larvse or grubs of ants, like those of bees and wasps, are 

 small, white, legless creatures, somewhat conical in form, narrowing 

 towards the head. 



In the case of ants, as wnth other insects which pass through 

 similar changes of form — such as bees, wasps, moths, butterflies, flies, 

 beetles, etc. — the larval stage is the period of growth. During the 

 chrysalis stage though immense changes take place, and the organs 

 of the insect are more or less rapidly developed, no food is taken, and 

 there is no addition to size or weight. 



The imago or perfect insect again takes food, but does not grow. 

 The ant, like all the insects above named, is as large when it emerges 

 from the pupa as it ever will be, though the al^domen of the female 

 sometimes increases in size from the development of the eggs. 



Some ants have a sting; some bite with their jaws, and then 

 squirt poison into the wound. Indeed, in some cases, the poison is 

 sufficiently strong itself to cause a wound. Moreover, some species 

 have the power of ejecting their poison to a considerable distance. 



Under ordinary circumstances an ants' nest, like a beehive, con- 

 tains three kinds of individuals, workers or imperfect females (which 

 constitute the great majority), males and perfect females. There are 

 often, however, several queens in an ants' nest ; while, as we all know, 

 there is never more than one queen mother in a hive. The queens of 

 ants are provided with wings, but after a single flight they tear them 



