ARTHROPODA 93 



though the name is often quite inapplicable. A 

 recent discovery in entomology is the fact that 

 ants have a voice. Dr. D. Sharp of Cambridge 

 has described their " stridulating," i.e. noise-pro- 

 ducing, organs. These consist of parallel ridges 

 present on the sides of certain segments. By 

 working the body up and down, the insect scrapes 

 these ridges with the edge of the preceding seg- 

 ment, so that a musical note is produced, intelli- 

 gible to other ants. 

 The question has 

 also been investi- 

 gated by French 

 observers. The 

 principle involved 

 will readily be rec- 

 ognised by those 

 who in childhood 

 were guilty of try- 

 ing to extract mu- 

 sic from a comb. 



The white ants, FIG. 27. White Ants, Eutermes morio, 

 <;n Hp^trnrtive in from Pernambuco, twice the natural 

 ^. 1Ve size. A, Soldier; B, Worker; C, 



tropical Climates, Young male ; D, Female, 

 are not true ants, 



but belong to a different order. These also live 

 in colonies ; like the bees, they have an egg-lay- 

 ing queen. She has a partner, the king. There 

 are neuter soldiers and neuter workers, both 

 wingless, while the male and female have wings, 

 afterwards lost. 



The Lepidoptera or butterflies and moths re- 

 ceive their name, Scaly-winged, from the beauti- 

 ful microscopic scales with which their wings are 

 covered. Fig. 28 shows the cocoons which the 

 larvae of some of the moths make for themselves 



