368 



APPLIED ENTOMOLOGY 



Three classes of ants always compose a colony males, queens 

 (females) and workers and there may be subdivisions of each of these 

 in some cases. The males and females usually have wings during a 

 portion of their lives, these having a simple arrangement of the veins: 

 the workers are wingless though some have vestiges of these structures. 

 The queens and workers are provided with a well-developed sting in some 

 groups of ants, while in others it is vestigial or entirely absent. The 

 usual colors of ants are yellow, brown, black, red, dull red, or brownish 

 yellow. 



FIG. 386. Little Black Ant (Monomorium minimum Em.) : a, male; b, pupa; c, female; 

 d, winged female; e, worker; /, larva; g, eggs; workers in line of march below. All enlarged, 

 hair lines showing true length. (From U. S. D. A. Farm. Bull. 740.) 



Colonies of ants occur in many kinds of locations. Some are in 

 the ground and these may be of different types of structure; some occur 

 in the cavities of plants, either preformed or else tunneled out by the ants: 

 some form nests on branches, making them of various materials; and 

 some nest in timbers, or other unusual places, while a few kinds have no 

 fixed homes. 



The food of ants is as varied as are their nest locations. Probably 

 the original food of the group was insects, either dead or helpless, and 

 many species feed on this material. Others take the honey-dew supplied 

 by scale insects, leafhoppers and particularly by plant-lice. Some raid 



