5GC 



ARTICULATA. 



ANTS AND THEIR STRUCXnEES. 



THE HETEROGYNA. 



This tribe, which indudes the various kinds of Ants, is composed entirely of insects which 

 live in communities, consisting of three distinct kinds of individuals — males, females, and neuters. 

 The males and females are winged, the former during the whole, the latter during a part only of 

 their existence in the perfect state. They make their appearance in great numbers at a partic- 

 ular period of the summer, when they quit the nest in which their preparatory stages have been 

 passed, and pair in the air. When this has been accomplished, the males speedily die; the 

 females lose their wings and crawl about upon the ground until they fall in with some neuters, 

 which immediately seize upon them and convey them to their nest. The neuters, which form | 

 the bulk of the community, are in reality females, in which, probably from difference of food in the i 

 larva state, the sexual organs have remained undeveloped. Like the perfect females, they are | 

 furnished with a sting. It is upon them that the entire labor of the society devolves ; they | 

 form the nest, carry off the eggs when laid by the female, and attend to the larvse, feeding them f 

 with the utmost care. 



The houses of ants exhibit a great diversity of structure ; but the larvae are never inclosed in 



