32 THE ANTS 



of the large species make their nests of huge 

 heaps of fir needles, and number 400 to 500 

 thousand in one nest others live in quite small 

 communities, nesting in bramble stems, old rotten 

 wood, moss, etc. One little species, rare with 

 us, lives in the walls of other ants' nests, just 

 as mice live in the walls of our houses ; another 

 quite small species lives apparently on friendly 

 terms with the common large red or horse ant, 

 and may be found running about amongst them, 

 on and in their nests, but, so far as I know, 

 nothing is known as to how its young are reared. 

 There is a curious division in the family between 

 the ants that have true stings and those which 

 have not. The large ants of our fir woods 

 can bite and are able to eject poison through 

 the apical opening of the body into the wound 

 they create, but these as well as the larger and 

 smaller black ants and some others have the 

 sting undeveloped, whereas some of our small 

 species have a sting which they can use with 

 considerable effect; this difference in habit is 

 accompanied by a difference in the structure 

 in the basal segments of the body. In the 

 stingless species the basal segment is reduced 



