CHAPTER VIII 



ANTS, THEIR ACTIVITIES AND INVASIONS OF 

 THE HOUSEHOLD 



THE ants belong to the same great group of insects, 

 Hymenoptera, that contains the wasps, bees, sawflies, and 

 others ; and, like the honey bee and common wasps, are 

 social in their habits of living. 



Every one is familiar with ants ; they occur in all lands 

 and all regions, from the dry deserts to the damp forests, 

 from the timberline of mountains to the lowest valleys, 

 and among the dwellings and habitations of man. They 

 seem to thrive in all kinds of environment and multiply 

 enormously, so that they outnumber all other terrestrial 

 animals. 



THE NATURE OF AN ANT COLONY 



As we have said, ants are social, that is, they live in 

 colonies or communities where every individual ant works 

 for the good of the whole and not for itself alone. A 

 colony of ants furnishes an illustration of a more perfect 

 communistic society than any ever established by man and 

 perhaps a more amicable one than any he will ever be 

 able to organize. 



In a typical colony of ants there are at least three kinds 

 of individuals, the queen, the males, and the workers. 

 The queen is not the ruler, but the mother of the colony. 

 Her only business seems to be to lay eggs which hatch 

 into workers and other forms to take the places of those 

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