ARTHROPODS. CLASS INSECTS 129 
to the acquisition of food, which consists of the sweet 
juices of plants, of other insects, or of leaves and seeds. 
These may be fed at once, or placed in storehouses until 
times of need. 
Certain species of ants make carefully planned attacks 
upon other weaker forms. The young are carried off, at 
times only after a prolonged and fierce struggle, and all 
are soon eaten, or a few may be allowed to develop and act 
as slaves. Some species are unable to exist without serv- 
ants, which feed them, wash them, and otherwise minister 
to their comfort. 
In some of their raids numerous plant-lice (delicate, 
usually green, insects, such as occur on our household 
plants) are often captured and carried into the nest. These 
so-called, ‘‘ant-cows” are carefully tended, and in return 
yield up a tiny drop of a sugary fluid to the hungry ant 
that solicits it. 
The eggs laid by the queen develop into white worm- 
like creatures, which 6rdinarily spin cocoons when about to 
become pup. These are incorrectly called “ant-eggs.” 
Many, probably on account of insufficient nourishment, 
never develop reproductive organs. They become the neu- 
ters or workers. The winged royalty fly away from the 
colony, pair and found homes of their own, and become 
surrounded by a numerous progeny. 
126. The bees—Among the bees we find a considerable 
number which lead solitary lives, excavating tunnels in 
earth or wood, as in the case of many of the wasps, but, 
unlike them, supplying the young with honey or pollen. 
Others may constitute a band of worthless insects which 
steal their food from their more industrious relations, in 
whose nests they also secretly deposit their eggs, leaving the 
young to be nourished with food rightly belonging to others. 
But it is with the social bees we are most familiar—the 
bumble- and honey-bees. The former usually build in the 
ground, and form colonies consisting of the queen and from 
