CHAPTER XLIX 



ANTS 



' A NTS live in communities, each containing many 

 iV members, in underground abodes, where the 

 young are reared. These communities are composed 

 of three kinds of insects : males and females, recog- 

 nizable by their large transparent wings, four to each 

 ant; and the neuters, or workers, which have no 

 wings. These last, the workers, build the house, 

 take care of the community, rear the larvae and bring 

 them their food, distributing it to each one. The 

 others do not work. To add to the population by 

 furnishing an abundant supply of eggs is all that 

 they are expected to do. 



"As soon as the rays of the morning sun strike 

 the ant-hill, the workers standing watch at the en- 

 trance hasten within, nudge their comrades with 

 their antennae to wake them up, run from one to an- 

 other, urge them on, hustle them into activity, and 

 put all the subterranean galleries into lively com- 

 motion. First of all, attention must be given to the 

 larvae, feeble transparent worms, without feet and 

 unable to feed themselves and to grow unless they 

 receive assiduous care from their nurses. 



"Accordingly, aroused by the tumult caused by the 

 workers rushing in from outside, the ants proceed to 



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