164 ANTS, BEES AND WASPS 



and sucking ; and the female is provided with a conspicuous 

 ovipositor, which in some families is modified into a sting, in others 

 into a saw, or it may be adapted for piercing or boring. 



The Ants have attracted attention from the earliest ages on 

 account of their remarkable habits and intelligent ways ; and, 

 indeed, the more one studies these wonderful little creatures the 

 more one is astonished and fascinated by the ordered economy of 

 their social life, and the industry, resourcefulness, and intelligence 

 of the " little people." 



All ants are included in one great family, the Formicidias, which 

 is, however, divided into several sub-families or groups, varying 

 from one another in details of structure and ways of life. Ants 

 as a whole possess curious triangular-shaped heads ; the antennae 

 are bent, forming a jointed elbow ; the mandibles are very strong 

 and work freely apart from the mouth, which can be kept closed 

 while the mandibles are used for biting or carrying ; the pedicle 

 which attaches the abdomen to the thorax varies in different 

 groups ; it may have either one or two nodes or knots upon it, 

 and these curious knots are differently shaped according to the 

 particular species of ant. 



An ordinary community of ants consists of a vast number of 

 workers ; imperfect females, who are wingless ; one or more queens 

 or perfect females ; and a certain number of winged males. In 

 some nests there may be several kinds of workers, each kind 

 having its own particular duties to perform. The queen ants, 

 when they emerge from the cocoon, are winged, but after their 

 nuptial flight they cast their wings and enter on a long life devoted 

 entirely to laying eggs and populating the nest. The males appear 

 in vast number in the nests in the mating season, but their life is 

 of short duration, for after the marriage flight is over they soon 

 perish. 



It is a remarkable sight on a warm summer day to see the 

 young winged queens and the male ants pouring out of the nests 

 in countless numbers, rising like thin columns of smoke into the 

 sunlit air, their gauzy wings gleaming with iridescent hues. When 

 the flight is over the young queens that survive may be received 

 into an old nest, or, with the aid of a small band of workers, start 

 new colonies of their own. 



The ant queen is lodged in a special chamber and attended 



