MUTUAL AID AMD COMMUNAL LIFE AMONG AXLMAI^ 391 



dinarily nice structural modifications which adapt tlie l^ec so 

 perfectly for its com})lex and varied businesses; and of tlie 

 tireless persistence of the workers until they fall exhausted 

 and dying in the performance of their duties. Tlic connnunity, 

 it is important to note, is a persistent or continuous one. The 

 workers do not live long, the s})ring broods usually not over 

 two or three months, and tlie fall broods not more tlian six or 

 eight months; but new ones are hatching while the old ones arc 

 I'ying, and the community as a whole always persists. The 



Fig. 244. — Female (a), male (6) and worker (c) of an ant, Camponotua sp. 



queen may live several years, perhaps as many as five.' She 

 lays about one million eggs a year. 



There are many species of ants, two tliousand or more, and 

 all of them live in communities and show a truly coinininial 

 life. There is much variety of ha])it in the lives of different 

 kinds of ants, and the degree in which the communal or social 

 life is specialized or elaborated varies much. Jkit certain 

 general conditions })revail in the life of all tlie different kinds of 

 individuals — sexually develojunl males and females that pos.«;es8 

 wings, and sexually undeveloped workers that are winglcsa 

 (Fig. 244). In some kinds the workers show structural difTer- 

 ences among themselves, being divided into small workers, 

 large workers, and soldiers. The workers are, as with the 



<j ' - T ■ 



. ^ A queen bee has bft-n kept alive for fifteen years. 



