156 Hillside. 



Ants belong to the same large order of insects as bees 

 the Hymenoptera which is characterised by the possession 

 by the perfect insect of four membranous wings without 

 scales, the anterior pair of these being usually linked by 

 hooks to the posterior pair. Their habits are very wonder- 

 ful. How busy they are all round that nest, and notice the 

 regular paths in which they travel. This one, you see, is 

 without wings. It is a worker, and workers never have 

 wings ; the}' are born wingless. Besides this worker-form 

 of the red ant, who builds the home and forages for food, 

 there are two other forms the males and females. Both 

 males and females have wings, but after they have paired, 

 the males soon die, whilst the females break off their wings 

 and become wingless, and not unlike the workers. Ah ! 

 there is a female. See how rapidly she moves her wings to 

 and fro. Then, suddenly crossing them, she pulls them 

 quickly from side to side, and after a time they fall off. 

 Sometimes, however, the workers remove them. When they 

 lose their wings the females become queens, are attended 

 by a regular bevy of workers, and set about the great busi- 

 ness of their lives egg-laying. 



These immense, thickly populated cities of the ants have a 

 very simple commencement. A single female is taken posses- 

 sion of by one or a few workers. An eminent observer has 

 noted that a fertile female wandering at large has often a 

 single worker hanging on to her in a rigid manner, which is 

 thus carried wherever she goes, and surmises that in these 

 cases the two start the nest in combination, the worker doing 

 the necessary labour. The female then lays a few eggs, which 

 the worker or workers carefully tend. These become grubs, 

 then pupae, and finally ants, which help the founders of the 



