120 ASSOCIATION OF ORGANISMS—THE WEB OF LIFE 
called “ cattle-pens.” Some remarks will be made in a subsequent 
chapter on ants as slave-owners, and on the beetles, &c., which live 
in their nests. 
The caste-system is carried to an extreme in one of the 
common Foraging-Ants (Zczton hamata, see vol. ii, p. 104) of 
Tropical America, a carnivorous species which possesses a power- 
ful sting. Besides winged males and wingless females there are 
“soldiers” with enormous jaws, large workers, and two sizes of 
small worker. These ants and those of allied species have no 
permanent abode, but wander about from place to place after the 
fashion of armies. After carrying on offensive operations for 
some time they construct temporary quarters, where they cultivate 
the domestic virtues and bring up their offspring. Belt gives the 
following account of ants of the sort in regard to this matter (in 
A Naturalist in Nuaragua):—“ They make their temporary 
habitations in hollow trees and sometimes underneath large fallen 
trunks that offer suitable hollows. A nest that I came across in 
the latter situation was open at one side. The ants were clus- 
tered together in a dense mass, like a great swarm of bees, 
hanging from the roof, but reaching to the ground below. Their 
innumerable long legs looked like brown threads binding together 
the mass, which must have been at least a cubic yard in bulk, 
and contained hundreds of thousands of individuals, although 
many columns were outside, some bringing in the pupz of ants, 
others the legs and dissected bodies of various insects. I was 
surprised to see in this living nest tubular passages leading down 
to the centre of the mass, kept open, just as if it had been formed 
of inorganic materials. Down these holes the ants who were 
bringing in booty passed with their prey. I thrust a long stick 
down to the centre of the cluster, and brought out clinging to it 
many ants holding larve and pupe.” Ants as agriculturalists and 
mushroom-growers have been dealt with in an earlier section (see 
vol. 1, p. 207). 
Soca Net-Wincep Insects (NEUROPTERA).—The interesting 
social insects known as Termites live in complex communities 
somewhat resembling those of Ants, with which, under the name 
of ‘White Ants”, these forms are often confounded. The resem- 
blance, however, is very superficial, while the differences are pro- 
found. Termites are not invested in strong plate-armour, their 
exo-skeleton being comparatively thin, nor do they possess poison- 
