INTERRELATIONS OF INSECTS 333 



As Forel says [translation] : " The chief feature of ant 

 architecture, in contradistinction to that of the bees and the 

 wasps, is its irregularity and want of uniformity that is to 

 say, its adaptability, or the capacity of making all the sur- 

 roundings and incidents subserve the purpose of attaining the 

 greatest possible economy of space and time and the greatest 

 possible comfort. For instance, the same species will live in 

 the Alps under stones which absorb the rays of the sun ; in a 

 forest it will live in warm, decayed trunks of trees; in a rich 

 meadow it will live in high, conical mounds of earth." Some 

 species construct peculiar pasteboard nests, as Lasins fuligino- 

 sus of Europe and tropical species of Cremastogaster; and 

 others spin silk to fasten leaves together, as Polyrhachis of 

 India and (Ecophylla of tropical Asia and tropical Africa, the 

 silk being probably a salivary secretion, according to Forel. 



Habits in General. The habits of ants are an inexhaustible 

 and ever-fascinating subject of study to the naturalist, and 

 well repay the most critical observation. While each species 

 has its characteristic habits, ants in general have many customs 

 in common. 



Thus ants of one colony exhibit, as a rule, a pronounced 

 hostility toward ants of any other colony, even one of the same 

 species, but recognize and spare members of their own colony, 

 even after many months of separation and though the colony 

 may number half a million individuals. This recognition is 

 effected by means of an odor, distinctive of the colony and ap- 

 parently inheritable. When an ant is washed and then restored 

 to its fellows, it is treated at first as an intruder and may even be 

 killed. The same is true when the ant has been smeared with 

 juices from the bodies of alien ants. According to Miss 

 Fielde, workers of colony A, smeared with the juices from 

 crushed ants of colony B and then placed in colony B are 

 received amicably, but at once set about to destroy their hosts, 

 like " wolves in sheep's clothing." These statements apply 

 only to workers, however, for alien larvae and pupae are fre- 

 quently captured and reared by ants, and Miss Fielde states 



