37^ THE INSECT WORLD. 



Ants are divided into a great number of species, which have been 

 carefully described by De Geer, Latreille, and Peter Huber, the 

 son of the celebrated blind man who wrote the history of bees. All 

 these species have, however, some general traits in common, by 

 which they may be easily distinguished from all other insects. Ants 

 have a slim body on long legs. The workers are stouter and smaller 

 than the males ; and these last are smaller than the females. The 

 males have large and prominent eyes, whilst the eyes of the workers 

 and females are small. 



Ants are provided with antennae, bent in the form of an elbow, 

 with which they examine everything they meet, and which seem to 



^'g- 359'~Red ^nt. Male magnified. Fig. 360. — Brazilian Umbrella Ant. 



(^Myrinica fiidra.) {Aiia ccpkalotes.) 



assist them in the communication of their ideas. Two horny, very 

 strong mandibles serve them at the same time as pincers, tweezers, 

 scissors, pick-axe, fork, and sword. A thin short neck joins the 

 head to the thorax, to which, in the case of the males and females, 

 are attached four large veiny wings. The workers only have no 

 wings. Of the three pairs of legs, the hind ones are the longest. 

 Each pair is armed with a spur, and fringed witl) very short hairs, 

 which serve the purpose of brushes. The abdomen, large, short, 

 oval, or square, is always most voluminous in the females. 



There are three genera of ants which we shall mention. The 

 Myrinicce have two knobs to the pedicle, by which the abdomen is 

 attached to the thorax ; the Poncrce only one. In these two genera, 

 the females and the neuters have a sting, and the larvae do not spin 

 a cocoon in which to change into pupa. Lastly, the FormiccB — ants 

 properly so called — have but one knob on the pedicle of ' the 



