CHAPTER V. 



ANTS AND WASPS. 



THOUGH the order Hymenoptera is a very extensive one, 

 including, as it does, the bees, wasps, ants, ichneumon- 

 flies, saw-flies, and gall-flies, it will not detain us long, 

 as only a very few of its members can legitimately be 

 claimed as household insects. Bees, saw-flies, and gall- 

 flies are so intimately associated with living plants that 

 there is nothing to tempt them indoors ; and it is only 

 amongst the parasitic ichneumon-flies and their allies, 

 and the omnivorous ants and wasps, that we can expect 

 to meet with domestic examples. 



We will first take the ants. Of these insects we have 

 one species that is found exclusively in houses. It is 

 not a truly British insect, but has been imported with 

 merchandise. It does not seem to have been noticed 

 here before the year 1828, nevertheless it has completely 

 established itself, and, having found supplies plentiful, 

 and the climate of our houses congenial to its taste, it 

 will, no doubt, remain with us. At different times it 

 has been known to English entomologists under a variety 

 of names. In the latest systematic work on this par- 

 ticular group of insects, the " British Heterogyna and 

 Fossorial Hymenoptera " of Mr. Edward Saunders, it is 

 called Monomorium Pharaonis, but it was formerly known 

 as Myrmica molesta and Diplorhoptrum molestum. 



Ants, as is well known, are what are called social 



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