224 MANUAL OP ZOOLOGY. 



destroyed by the workers. The eggs produced by the fecun- 

 dated queen are mostly intended to give origin to neuters, to 

 which end they are placed in the ordinary cells. The ova, 

 which are to give origin to females the ' queens ' of future 



Fig. 69. Hymenoptera. The Great Saw-fly ( Uroceros gigas). 



colonies are placed in cells of a peculiar construction, and 

 the larvae are fed by the workers with a special food. The 

 ova, which are to produce males, are likewise placed in cells, 

 which are slightly larger than those allotted to the workers. 

 It is asserted, however, that this is not the sole, or true, cause 

 of the production of the males ; but that the ova which are 

 intended to produce drones are not fertilised by the female 

 with the semen which she has stored up in her spermatheca, 

 and are therefore produced by a process of Parthenogenesis. 

 (See Introduction.) 



In the Humble Bees (Bomlidce), and in the Wasps (Ves- 

 pidce), we have societies essentially the same as in the Honey- 

 bee. 



The Ants (Formica) likewise form communities, consisting 

 of males, females, and neuters. The males and females, as 

 we have seen in the case of the Termites, are winged, and are 

 produced in great numbers at a particular period of the year. 

 They then quit the nest and pair, after which the males die. 

 The females then lose their wings, and fall to the ground, when 

 they become the queens of fresh societies. In some Ants as in 

 the Termites the neuters are divided into two classes the 

 workers and the soldiers of which the former perform all the 



