48 THE HONEY ANT. 



certain ants are told ofif as foragers, and that during 

 winter, when little food is required, two or three are 

 sufficient to provide it. 



I have, indeed, no reason to suppose that in our 

 English ants any particular individuals are specially 

 adapted to serve as receptacles of food. In some 

 foreign species ' certain individuals in each nest serve 

 as animated honey-pots. To them the foragers bring 

 their supplies, and their whole duty seems to be to 

 receive the honey, retain it, and redistribute it when 

 required. Their abdomen becomes enormously dis- 

 tended, the intersegmental membranes being so much 

 extended that the chitinous segments which alone are 

 visible externally in ordinary ants seem like small 

 brown transverse bars. Two species presenting this 

 remarkable peculiarity are known. The first Qlyrmeco- 

 cystus mexicanus) was described by Wesmael from 

 specimens brought home by M. de Normann, and the 

 account given by them has been fully confirmed by 

 subsequent observers ; as, for instance, by Lucas,' 

 Saunders,^ Edwards,* Blake,^ Loew,^ and McCook.'' 



On one very important point, however, M. Wesmael 

 was in error; he states that the abdomen of these 

 abnormal individuals, ' ne contient aucun organe ; ou 

 plutot, il n'est lui-meme qu'un vaste sac stomacal.* 



' Bull, de I'Acad. des Sci. de Brvxcllcs, vol, v. p. 771. 

 ' Ann. Soc. Ent. de France., v. p. 111. 



* Canadian Entomologist., vol. vii. p. 12. 



* Proc. California Acadeviy, 1873. ' Hid., 1874. 



* American Nat., viii. 1874. ' The Honey Ants. 



