CHAPTER VII 

 AGGREGATIONS OF ANIMALS 



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ITHIN the ecological 

 animal communities of the forest or prairie, 

 ocean, lake or stream, there occur collections of 

 animals, frequently in large numbers, which 

 make up more or less organized units within the 

 larger community. Frequently these are closely 

 knit into compact societies such as those of the 

 ants, bees, wasps, or termites; frequently also 

 they are much less organized, such as loosely bound 

 flocks of birds or straggling schools of fishes; and 

 still more frequently they are even less closely 

 knit together than are any of these. Such ag- 

 gregations of animals, whether closely or loosely 

 organized, serve as intermediate units between 

 individual animals and the larger ecological com- 

 munity whose structure and organization have 

 been discussed in the earlier chapters of this book. 

 Many of the same forces can be recognized in 

 these aggregations of animals that are effective in 

 the larger community, but here they act in a 

 simpler way under less complex conditions. The 

 interplay of life is full but on a smaller scale which 



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