OITR ANTS. 15 



(or white ants) are also ants; for they, too, have a social organization 

 with modified female forms constituting 'workers 'and 'soldiers.' 

 Yet nothing can be more certain than that they (the Termites) belong 

 to an Order, viz. :— the Neuroptera in no way allied even to the 

 Hymenoptera, 



The ants, like the Wasps and Bees, are social. The Queen ( 9 )ha8 

 wings (there are exceptions) which however drop ofE when she has 

 been fecundated. The Male (d ) is winged for life (with only one or 

 two known exceptions of apterous <5 ). Every species of ant (again 

 with only one or two known exceptions) has, in addition to these, 

 at least one other and sometimes two other forms. The * Worker' 

 ,( 5 )j that is, the apterous insect commonly known as the * ant', like 

 the $ , has a sting (or its modification). She is in fact a 9 in which 

 the generative organs have totally, or partially, aborted, exactly corre- 

 sponding so far with the w^orker bee or wasp. In some species, 

 however, all the 5 are not alike in form. The 2 minor is compara- 

 tively small and, also, comparatively speaking, is normal in shape, i.e.^ 

 resembles the $ . While the 3 major is usually a grotesque looking 

 insect, considerably larger than the § minor, with a monstrous head. 

 Very often, as in the common large black ant of our bungalows, all 

 the intermediate gradations between these two forms may be found 

 in the same community. In some species, however, only the two 

 extreme forms are represented, they are then usually known as 

 • Worker' ( 5 ) and 'Soldier' respectively. Lubbock believes that this 

 is related, in some way, to the division of labour, but I confess I have 

 never seen any proof of this. If a road along which Ilokomyrmez 

 is harvesting grain be watched, it will be seen that the individual ^ 

 vary in size from rs to fully \ of an inch in length, and the biggest 

 by no means carry the biggest loads or work hardest. That the 5 

 and soldier (*) however have different duties is certain ; for instance, 

 the latter will never be seen carrying grain, or doing manual labour ; 

 probably it is beneath her dignity, or possibly contrary to the 

 military regulations. 



-, The ants resemble the wasps, and differ from the bees, in having* 

 more than one ? in each nest For a very long time it was taken for 

 granted that a 9 did not outlive the year in which she was born, and 

 on this misconception many theories were based. vSir J. Lubbock 



