ANTS AND WASPS 59 



they resemble in shape the perfect insect, but have, as 

 usual, all their limbs folded up underneath them. Pre- 

 viously to the assumption of this stage, some ants, 

 such as the Formicidce, envelop themselves in an oval 

 silken cocoon, and thus acquire a resemblance to eggs ; 

 and it is these pupae, thus enveloped, that constitute the 

 so-called " ants' eggs " referred to above. But the Myr- 

 micidce, to which our present insect belongs, do not form 

 cocoons, but pupate without this protection. The pupse, 

 since they are more helpless even than the larvae, equally 

 need the care of the nurses, though there is now no 

 feeding to be done. 



When the insect is ready for its final change, there is 

 still more work for the nurses to do : they have to assist 

 it out of its enveloping pellicle, to help it straighten its 

 cramped limbs, to lead it about the nest, and generally 

 to introduce it to all the activities of its new life. 



We have said that these little ants have a voracious 

 appetite ; this the householder who is unfortunate enough 

 to shelter colonies of them in his dwelling will soon find 

 out. Nothing edible comes amiss to them, but they are 

 specially partial to sweets and greasy substances. Cakes, 

 pastry, sugar, and dripping may perhaps be said to be 

 their especial favourites. Any dainty little morsels 

 which the careful housewife has put away, as she thinks, 

 in safety, ready for future use, are soon found out by 

 stray members of the ant community. The news is 

 telegraphed to the rest, and soon crowds are wending 

 their way to the feast. When once they have assembled 

 in considerable numbers at the place of entertainment, 

 it is difficult for their human foe to know how to get 

 rid of them. They are almost too small to be picked off 

 by the finger, and the operation, too, would be somewhat 

 tedious ; an endeavour to blow them off might have just 



