THE HONEY-BEE /1ND OTHER SOCIAL ANIMALS 313 



used exclusively for certain special purposes, as nurse- 

 rooms, food-storage rooms, etc. The food of ants com- 

 prises many animal and vegetable substances, but the 

 favorite kind with many species is the ' ' honey-dew ' ' 

 secreted by the plant-lice (Aphidida;) and scale insects 



Fig. 245. — The little black ant, Monoinorluin t?iinutum; a, female; b, female 

 with wings; c, male; (/, workers; c, pupa; f, larva; g^ egg of worker, 

 all enlarged. (From Marlatt.) 



(Coccidae). To obtain this honey-dew an ant strokes one 

 of the aphids with its antennse, when the fluid is e.vcreted 

 by the little insect and drunk by the ant. In order to 

 have a certain supply of this food some species of ants 

 care for and defend these defenseless aphids, which have 

 been called their "cattle." In some cases they are even 

 taken into the ants' nest and provided with food. In the 

 Mississippi Valley a certain kind of plant-louse lives on 



