[24] 



In the case of the ant the nurse places the 

 larva on its back, and the broad ventral sur- 

 face serves as a trough for the food, often 

 predigested. The skill and devotion with 

 which this is done are among the wonders 

 in the life of the insect to which moralists 

 have never tired of urging a visit. But lis- 

 ten to the sequel! The larva is provided 

 with a pair of rich honey-bags in the shape 

 of salivary glands, big exudatoria from 

 which is discharged an ambrosia greedily 

 lapped up by the nurse, who with this con- 

 siders herself well paid for her care. In the 

 same manner, when the assiduous V. A.D. 

 wasp distributes food to the larvae, the heads 

 of which eagerly protrude from their cells, 

 she must be paid by a draught of nectar 

 from their exudatoria, while if it is not 

 forthcoming the wasp seizes the head of the 

 larva in her mandibles and jams it back into 

 its cell and compels it to pay up. The lazy 

 males will play the same game and even 



