Ants 



the bee, to build its nest it must either secrete the substance 

 of its nest or seek it at a distance, as does the bee when 

 she collects propolis, or the wasp when she gathers material 

 for her paper. The terrestrial animal, like the ant, has its 

 building materials close at hand, and its architecture may 

 be as varied as these materials." Also ants have few 

 enemies, a fact which caused the naturalist Forel to 

 remark that " the ant's most dangerous enemies are other 

 ants, just as man's most dangerous enemies are other 

 men." 



It is curious to note how ant societies resemble and 

 differ from those of man. Human societies may be divided 

 into six classes or stages the hunting, pastoral, agri- 

 cultural, commercial, industrial and intellectual ; and ants 

 have stages corresponding to the first three. Some ants 

 live solely by the products of the chase : they are known as 

 driver and legionary ants ; some keep domestic animals, 

 in the shape of plant lice, scale insects and caterpillars, 

 these belong to the pastoral class ; the agricultural class 

 is represented by the harvesting-ants, which collect, store 

 and, it is said, plant seeds.] Against these resemblances 

 may be set the fact that ant societies are almost solely 

 composed of females, for the males take little part in the 

 social life of the colony ; each female is predestined to 

 a certain task, and an ant community may be likened to 

 a big family. A very big family in some cases, for Forel 

 has estimated that a community may consist of five 

 hundred thousand individuals. Such a community re- , 

 sembles a perfect republic where each works for the good 

 of the whole community, each having her appointed work, 

 labouring constantly for the good of all and each ready to 

 sacrifice herself for the good of all. A veritable insect 

 Utopia. 



Before we turn our attention to some of the more 

 extraordinary ant colonies let us examine the typical 

 life history of these insects. An ant's nest may be built 

 above or below ground ; in hollows in trees ; in plant galls ; 



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