INSECT COMMUNITIES 295 



welfare. The food of adult ants consists of nectar, fruit, 

 the " honey dew " secreted by aphides, caterpillars and 

 small insects which are attacked and killed, and flesh 

 bitten from the carcases of dead animals ; the larvae, 

 however, are provided by the workers with predigested 

 nourishment, or chyle. Finally, the newly formed adult 

 ant is carefully groomed and fed in preparation for its 

 life-work. The cocoons of ants are commonly sold as 

 " ants' eggs " for feeding pheasants, gold fish, &c. The 

 larvae of some ants, however, do not spin cocoons ; and 

 Mr. Edward Saunders has pointed out that among 

 British ants this is always the case with those species 

 which possess stings in the adult state. But members of 

 species which normally form cocoons occasionally omit to 

 do so. 



None of our British ants lay up stores for winter use, 

 despite the popular belief to the contrary ; the community 

 simply retires to chambers far below the surface of the 

 soil, and there, huddled in somnolent masses, awaits the 

 return of warm weather. Thus, a colony of ants may 

 persist over long periods of time. Darwin mentions that 

 an old man of eighty told him that he had seen one very 

 large nest of the wood-ant in the same place ever since he 

 was a boy. 



Ants are remarkably free from the attacks of true 

 parasites, but they have very numerous associates. The 

 mystery which often surrounds the status of these residents 

 in the nests has led to the assumption that ants actually 

 keep pets, just as we keep cats and dogs ; but this is 

 improbable. Many of the beetles that live with ants 

 are known to furnish their hosts with much-coveted 

 secretions of a sweet or aromatic nature : and in return 

 for these luxuries the ants not only provide food and 

 shelter, but groom their guests with as much care as 



