Saw-flies, Gall-flies, Ichneumons, 



diate stages are sometimes seen. Finally there may exist ergatoid (worker- 

 like) wingless but fertile females and males. Wheeler finds among the ants 

 of the family Poneridae, which includes the most generalized or simplest 

 of the ant kinds, that the "queen and worker differ but little in size and 

 structure; ergatoid females or forms intermediate between the queens and 

 workers are of normal and comparatively frequent occurrence in some species ; 

 the habits of the queen and workers are very similar; the female is not an 

 individual on whom special attention is bestowed by the workers, and the 



FIG. 741. The little black ant, Monomorium minutum. a, female; b, female with wings; 

 c, male; d, workers; e, pupa; /, larva; g, egg of worker. (After Marlatt; natural 

 size indicated by line.) 



workers show no tendency to differentiate into major and minor castes." 

 This investigator has also noted at the other extreme a dimorphism of the 

 queens (winged females) in Lasius latipes, a member of the specialized family 

 Camponotidae, and in two genera, Leptogenys and Tomagnathus, the absence 

 of any winged female, the queens having become degenerate to the extent of 

 losing their wings. Hand in hand with this differentiation into castes and 

 the accompanying differences in structure goes, of course, a division of labor 

 or specialization of function, as will soon be pointed out. 



We have no such detailed and complete knowledge of the community 

 life of ants as we have of the social wasps and bees; in particular we are 



