INSECTS HYMENOPTEHA DIAGRAM G. 



141 



Female Ant. 



workers seem to play a different part in the community. The 



large ones, those armed with strong mandibles, do not work. 



They seem to rest all day, but if an enemy threatens the anthill, 



they come out to attack it ; these are especially soldiers. The 



others are specially labourers, and take 



care of and repair the dwelling ; they fetch 



provisions, and even bring food to the ants 



who do not take the trouble to go in search 



of it. These working ants are not the 



same species, but the captives of the others, 



who sally forth from time to time to plunder 



the nests of feebler species to obtain 



workers. The slave-making ants are not 



natives of Britain, but are found on the 



Continent. 



The males and females of ants have large'wings with which they 

 rise in the air, and we sometimes see considerable swarms carried 

 about by the wind. 



The habits of ants differ much according to the country which 

 they inhabit, and according to the situation of the anthill, and it is 

 always very instructive to observe and study those of our native 

 species. They do not all make their dwellings in the ground. 

 Some prefer trunks of dead trees, in which they sometimes hollow 

 out very long galleries, with rooms at various intervals. 



The Ichneumon. Sometimes when we crush^ a caterpillar in 

 spring, we observe that its body is 

 full of other living larvas. These 

 larvae are those of a small hymen- 

 opterous insect called an ichneumon- 

 fly, which has its abdomen furnished 

 with a very long point or ovipositor. 

 The ichneumon is a winged insect, 

 .and when the female is about to 

 lay, she settles on a caterpillar, 

 pierces its skin with her ovipositor, 



Ichneumon. 



