INSECTS. 



23a 



of these we can mention but two or three of the most interesting, in 

 addition to the few incidentally introduced in the foregoing pao-es. 



Among the strangest of all the ants are the honey-ants, of which there 

 are several species occurring in various parts of the world ; but none of 

 them are better known than the honey-ant of our western territories, whose 

 habits have been extensively studied by Dr. H. C. McCook. They build 

 small nests or hills of gravel some two or three inches high and some six 

 in diameter. In the inside of the nest are galleries much as in other ant- 

 hills, but in the chambers are workers which are in reality but stores for 

 honey, — living honey-jars they might be termed. 



The ordinary workers make their expeditions to the dwarf-oaks of the 

 neighborhood and collect a sweet substance which exudes from the galls 

 on the branches. This they carry home and feed to the other worker-, 

 who store it in their crops until these become swollen out into immense 

 sacs as large or even larger than a currant. 

 This increase in size of course distends the 

 abdomen until at last it becomes a large 

 globe, on which can be seen a few cross- 

 bars, the remains of the normal integument. 

 It has been said that the intestine was 

 wholly obliterated by this operation ; this 

 is not true, but the pressure forces it up 

 against one side and effectually closes it ^S^SS^S^^^^ 

 so that nothing can pass through it. The 



amount which one of these honey-jars will contain almost surpasses belief ; 

 it is said that they increase their weight by this honey a hundred fold, and 

 even that the distention occasionally terminates with a rupture of the walls : 

 the ants actually burst. 



These honey-bearers do not digest the sweets fed to them ; they are 

 rather to be regarded as storehouses, where the honey is kept until a time 

 of need, and then it is poured out for the benefit of the community. At 

 these times they regurgitate the honey, and the other ants stand round, 

 each swallowing the drops as they come up. u The honey has an ag 

 able taste, slightly acid in summer from a trace of formic acid, but per- 

 fectly neutral in autumn and winter ; it contains a little more water than 

 the honey of bees, and has, therefore, somewhat greater limpidity. The 

 Mexicans press the animals, and use the gathered honey at their mea 

 others prepare by fermentation an alcoholic liquor from it." They al>« 

 "apply it to bruised and swollen limbs, ascribing to it great healing 

 properties." 



The cutting or parasol-ant is an inhabitant of Texas, which builds 



