HYMENOPTEEA. 165 



the community seems not to be in any sense a director or 

 an organizer, but rather a mother of the community. 

 An ant community always includes winged males which 

 die soon after their issuing from the nest to take part in 

 the mating flight; also winged females or mothers which 

 pull off their wings immediately after this flight, and wing- 

 less workers or infertile females. These workers may be of 

 two sizes, though this is not always true. There are usu- 

 ally the soldier workers with unusually large heads 

 and jaws. 



Taking the common carpenter ant as a type: the 

 ant mother begins the colony alone, feeding the first 

 larvae herself -with food which she brings into the nest 

 before she lays her eggs. This is according to Comstock's 

 observations. After the first brood comes to maturity 

 the members act as foragers and nurses for the succeeding 

 broods, and the ant mother has nothing to do from that 

 time forward except to lay eggs for the community 

 increase. The nests are built usually beneath the ground 

 surface, some being built under stones; or you may have 

 seen ants excavating between the stones of the sidewalk, 

 popping into sight with a crumb of soil, dropping it to roll 

 down the side of the tiny mound,> and scurrying back for 

 more, always more, as the underground galleries multiply. 

 The eggs are laid by the ant mother in masses instead 

 of singly as in the bee kind; and the larvae are white, 

 soft, footless grubs, very tiny at first, but growing to 

 considerable size. They are fed regurgitated food or 

 fresh insects well chewed, or weeds chewed up, or some 

 other vegetable food previously brought into the nest 

 and stored in the granaries. Of some species the larvae 

 must be fed for a month. The pupae look light-colored 

 and soft, but are not fed, though they are taken as much 



