374 ARTICULATES I INSECTS. 



destitute of wings. The workers have the care of the 

 nest or habitation, and of rearing the young. Some 

 kinds of ants make their nest in the ground, others raise 

 large ant-hills, and others live in stumps and trunks of 

 trees. The workers go abroad in search of food, appear 

 to communicate with each other, and to assist each other 

 in their labors. They feed the larvae, take them into the 

 sunshine in fine weather, and back again on the approach 

 of bad weather, or at night, and watch over them with 

 great fidelity and earnestness. Most ant-hill communi- 

 ties are composed of individuals of the same species ; but 

 in some cases the workers procure auxiliaries by visiting 

 the ant-hills of other species, and forcibly taking the larvae 

 and pupae and bringing them back to the domicil of the 

 invaders, where they are tended and reared by other 

 workers of their own species which have either undergone 

 metamorphosis there, or which have been stolen from 

 their original home. The male ants have the body small, 

 and the antennae and legs long and slender ; the females 

 are much larger, with antennae and legs shorter and 

 thicker. 



CHRYSIDID/E, Latr., OR CHRYSIS FAMILY. This Fam- 

 ily comprises hymenoptera which are oblong and com- 

 pact, the abdomen sessile, and with only three to five 

 rings visible ; the remaining ones being drawn within, 

 forming a long and large ovipositor, which can be thrust 

 out like the joints of a telescope. The abdomen beneath 

 is concave, and can be flexed ' upon the breast so as to 

 make the insect appear globular. The richness of the 

 colors of these insects vies with that of the humming- 

 birds, and they are often called Golden Wasps. They are 

 constantly in motion, flying or running about on walls, 

 fences, and sand-banks, in the hot sunshine; and their 

 antennae are in constant vibration. They lay their eggs 

 in the nests of other hymenoptera, that their young may 



