IT FOOD OF INSECTS 47 



the Hymenoptera or Bee Family. As imagoes they 

 are usually strict vegetarians, but during their larval 

 period, while some live on plants the bees, sawflies, 

 and others many are absolutely carnivorous, and 

 can exist only upon living prey. 



It is customary for insects to provide for their own 

 wants. A mother forsakes her young, leaving them to 

 get on as they best may, but she takes care to deposit 

 them in a spot in the midst of sustenance, or where 

 it may be readily procured by the larvae. Some- 

 times she goes on foraging expeditions, and stocks 

 the larder of her infants with nourishment 

 whether of a vegetable or an 

 animal nature, sufficient for 

 their consumption until they 

 reach maturity. Some young, 

 however, are incapable of feed- FIG. 3 . A honey-bearing 



. , . ^T M ant (Myrwecocystns Mexi- 



ing Without assistance. 1 hey </) regurgitating honey 



-,, _ from her crop at the solicita- 



1'CqUire a Stan Of nurses tO Watch tion of hungry workers: from 



McCook. 



over them day by day, who 



are industrious and patient enough, and qualified by 

 intelligence to rear their troublesome charges through 

 their early helpless stages. The young of ants, of bees, 

 and wasps, that live in societies, are thus dependent 

 upon their elder relations. The mouths of the ants are 

 small and ill-developed, possessing two tiny booklets, 

 perhaps the embryos of the future mandibles,* but 

 far apart from each other and of little use. The 

 larvae themselves are too feeble to move and seize the 

 food were it placed within their reach. But they have 

 the instinct to lift their heads and gape like birds new- 

 hatched to receive their meals from their guardian's 



