THE SOCIAL GROUPS 



THE social bees are certainly the most highly 

 specialized of the Anthophtta, and the social wasps 

 of the Diploptera or insects with folded wings. 

 The ants occupy a less definite position : they 

 would seem to be the outcome of specialization 

 among the fossors, only they feed their young 

 with vegetable juices and not with animal 

 as the latter do. They are always kept as 

 a separate tribe under the name Heterogyna, 

 but for our purposes the better known word 

 " ant " will suffice. 



The hive bee and the social wasps are the 

 only British Hymenoptera which adopt the 

 hexagonal cell-formation in their nests, the bee 

 fashioning its cells in wax, the wasps and hornet 

 in masticated wood or paper. The formation 

 of ants' nests is far less regular, being composed 

 of irregular passages, called galleries, and open 

 spaces, no doubt built on a plan, but probably 



