BEES, WASPS, ANTS, ETC. 



523 



colony changes the situation of its nest, the masters are all carried by the slaves on 

 their backs to the new one ; nay, they have even lost the habit of feeding. Huber 

 placed thirty of theia, with sonje larvae and pupas and a supply of honey, in a box. 

 'At first,' lie says, 'they appeared to pay some little attention to the larvae; they car- 

 ried them here and there, but presently replaced them. More than one-half of the 

 Amazons died of hunger in less than two days. They had not even traced out a 

 dwelling, and the few ants still in existence were languid and without strength. I 

 commiserated their condition and gave them one of their black cornjDanions. This 

 individual, unassisted, established order, formed a chamber of earth, gathered together 

 the larviB, extricated several young ants that were ready to quit the condition of 

 pupae, and preserved tlie life of the remaining Amazons.' This observation has been 

 fully confirmed by other naturalists. However small the prison, however large the 

 quantity of food, these stupid creatures will starve in the midst of plenty rather than 

 feed themselves." 



Since the publication of Dr. McCook's work on the honey ants {Myrmecocystus 

 melliger) in 1882, this interesting species has attracted considerable attention. Its 

 peculiarity is that one form of the worker has its abdomen distended to the size of a 

 currant and entirely filled with grape sugar or " honey." The honey ants are found 



Qr"^ 



Fig. 661. — Myrmecoci/stus melliger, ho'ney ants with tlie abdomen swollen with honey. 



in southwestern North America, usually at an elevation of from six thousand to seven 

 thousand five hundred feet above the level of the sea, as far north as Manitou, Colo- 

 rado, and south to the City of Mexico. The nest is a low, gravel-covered moundlet, 

 averaging six inches in diameter and two or three inches in height. The honey bearers 

 are found clinging to the roofs of chambers a few inches under ground, and seem to 

 act simply as cells for the storing of the sweet substance which is collected by the 

 active workers from the exudations of the gall of an undescribed cynipid, found upon 

 a species of dwarf oak. In times of famine, and in seasons when the exudation is not 

 forthcoming, the honey bearer, or "rotund," regurgitates the honey drop by drop, 

 and it is transferred to the stomachs of the hungry individuals in waiting. In other 

 respects the economy of the colony does not differ materially from that of other 

 species. Dr. McCook arrives at the conclusion that "the worker majors for the most 

 part, and sometimes the minors, are transformed by the gradual distention of the crop 

 and expansion of the abdomen into the honey bearers, and that the latter do not com- 

 pose a distinct caste. It is probable, however, that some of the majors have a special 

 tendency to this change, by reason of some peculiar structure or form of the intestine 

 or abdominal walls." 



The agricultural ant of Texas {Pogonomyrmex barhatus) clears large spaces, often 

 twelve feet in diameter, for its nests, cutting down all vegetation within this space, 



