178 



BRANCH ARTHROPODA 



maturity issue simultaneously from the nest and from neighboring nests, 

 so that the air will be filled with thousands of ants swarming about in their 

 mating flight. After this the males soon die, and the females which escape 

 from birds and other animals tear off their wings and go in search of a suit- 

 able nesting place. Sometimes the queen starts the new colony alone, 

 while in other species the workers find and adopt a queen and form a new 

 colony. 



Inside the nest large numbers of very small eggs are laid in " little piles 

 heaped together in various rooms and sometimes moved about by the 

 workers." 1 The larvae are small, white, footless, helpless grubs, which are 

 fed by the workers with regurgitated food or with chewed insects, or with 

 dry seeds and vegetable matter from the granary where they have been 

 stored. Most species spin cocoons in which to pupate the white oval 

 bodies seen carried away by the ants when the nest is disturbed. The adults 



Fig. 147. The pavement ant (Tetramorium ccespitum): a, Winged 

 female; b, same without wings; c, male; d, worker; e, larva of female; /, 

 head of same; g, pupa of same; all enlarged. (Marlatt, Bull. U.S. Dept. 

 of Agriculture.) 



are unable to escape from these cocoons unaided by the workers. The 

 workers are undeveloped females or females which seldom lay eggs, and if 

 they do, these eggs always develop into males. These workers not only 

 feed the colony, but do all the work, building the nests and defending them 

 against enemies, even by war if necessary. 



There may be from one to thirty queens, though in small colonies there is 

 usually but one. As these queens grow old, the workers seek young queens 

 at the swarming period and bring them into the nest. Ants, except the 

 males, which are short lived, are known to live longer than most social 

 insects. Lubbock says he was able to recognize worker ants at least seven 

 years old, and one queen died when over thirteen years old and another lived 

 more than fourteen years. 2 



1 Comstock. 



2 Lubbock, " Senses, Instincts, and Intelligence of Ants," p. 233. 



