SOME INSECT COMMUNITIES 39 



nest and give up a portion of it, which they 

 have retained in their gullet-pouch, to the 

 larvae, and to those workers who are at work 

 in the nest. 



This curious habit on the part of the Ants, 

 of caressing the Aphides to obtain the sugary 

 secretion, has attracted a great deal of interest 

 amongst naturalists, with the result that our 

 knowledge concerning the amicable relations 

 which exist between various species of Ants and 

 Aphides has been considerably enriched. The 

 Ants not only milk the Aphides, which may well 

 be called Ant cows, but to protect them from the 

 attacks of foes even build cowsheds of earth 

 over them, or carry them for greater safety 

 into the nest, where they are tended with the 

 greatest solicitude. The little Yellow Ant (Lasms 

 flavus) is a regular miniature cattle farmer, 

 keeping flocks or herds of root-feeding Aphides in 

 its nest. More remarkable still, is the way in 

 which this Ant collects from the leaves of the 

 common daisy, the eggs of a species of Aphides 

 which live upon this plant throughout the summer 

 months. In late September and early October, 

 as the Aphides lay their eggs upon the daisy 

 plants, the little Yellow Ants collect them with 

 the greatest eagerness, and carry them away 

 into the nest. There the Aphide eggs are tended 

 with great care throughout the winter months 

 until the first weeks in March, when the young 

 Aphides emerge. Directly the climatic conditions 

 are suitable and the young Aphides are strong 

 enough, they are carried out of the nest by the 

 Yellow worker Ants and placed on the tender 



