1 9 o INSECTS 



on dried organic matter, animal as well as vegetable, 

 and in the Hymenoptera only the ants may be classed 

 as such. Ants, of course, are feeders on a very great 

 variety of materials. Some species will attack and 

 devour any living thing that comes in their way ; others 



FIG. 86. A "tumble-bug," Copris Carolina: a, larva; b, the cell in which 

 it lived; c, pupa; d, female beetle. 



confine themselves to vegetable food only and yet 

 others seem to be restricted to liquid food. Most of 

 them have quite a range of supplies and some species 

 may be found almost anywhere, even in our houses. 

 And yet ants are rarely thought of as real scavengers, 

 for they are not seen in or on decaying animals or in 

 or on foul excrements. 



In the Diptera, however, we have scavengers in 

 great number and variety; and yet very much alike 



