86 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 



carried about until the young emerge. They are thus 

 easy to find and may be hatched and the different stages 

 studied if this seem desirable. For insects they are of 

 slow growth, requiring five or six months (German roach) 

 or a year (American roach) to attain adult size. 



Ants. This is a fascinating group of insects to study. 

 Their social life and work, care of queens, eggs and young, 



FIG. 37. THE LITTLE BLACK ANT 



a, female ; l>, male ; c, worker : egg, larva, and pupa. 



(All enlarged. After Marlatt) 



their soldiers, their armies and battles, their cows, the 

 plant lice, and the slaves that some species capture and 

 bring home to do the menial work of their nests place 

 them above all other insects. We shall study some of 

 these in the proper place, but among household insects 

 we must consider those kinds that are often troublesome 

 about our homes. 



,Jhe little red ant, Monomorium pharaonis, is one of the 

 smallest and often most annoying of household pests. 

 It lives upon all sorts of human provisions, especially 

 sweets and fatty foods, and seldom is a cover tight enough 

 to exclude its seemingly innumerable hordes. A small 

 black ant, M. mimitum, and a somewhat larger species, 

 Tetramorium coespitum, are troublesome much in the same 



