72 



ON THE HABITS OF ANTS. 



[LECT. 



proportion, and a second with immense heads, provided 

 with very large jaws. These latter are generally sup- 

 posed to act as soldiers, and the size of the head enables 

 the muscles which move the jaws to be of unusual 

 dimensions : the little workers are also very pugnacious. 

 This differentiation of certain individuals, so as to adapt 

 them to special functions, seems to me very remarkable ; 

 for it must be remembered that the difference is not one 

 of age or sex. 



The food of ants consists of insects, great numbers of 

 which they destroy ; of honey, honeydew, and fruit ; 



indeed, scarcely any 

 animal or sweet sub- 

 stance comes amiss to 

 them. Some species, 

 such, for instance, as 

 the small brown garden 

 ant, ascend bushes in 

 search of aphides. The 

 ant then taps the aphis 

 gently with her anten- 

 nae, and the aphis emits 

 a drop of sweet fluid, 

 which the ant drinks. 

 Sometimes the ants even build covered ways up to and 

 over the aphides, which, moreover, they protect from 

 the attacks of other insects. Our English ants do not 

 collect provision for the winter ; indeed, their food is 

 not of a nature which would admit of this. Some 

 southern species, however, collect grain, occasionally in 

 considerable quantities. Moreover, though our English 

 ants cannot be said exactly to lay up stores, some at 



FIG. 48. Aphis. 



