INSECTS OF THE HOUSEHOLD 



87 



way, but their nests being in the ground outside the house 

 they are generally easier to find and destroy. 



In order to deal successfully with ants we must know 

 that their communities consist of : (i) workers, or neuters, 

 which are wingless and very numerous, so that these are 

 the ones we commonly see about ; these are females not 

 fully developed ; (2) queens, or females, which are single 

 or but few in a nest and which we never see outside the 

 nest, except in mating time. The queen is much larger 

 than the workers, her abdomen especially being much 

 distended with eggs, of which she may lay thousands a 

 day. The queens have wings at first, but after they have 

 flown out and been fertilized, they either tear their own 

 wings off or the workers do this for them, and they settle 

 down in the nest to lay eggs for the rest of their lives. 

 Males, generally 

 much smaller than the 

 queens, have wings 

 but are short-lived 

 and are not com- 

 monly seen about the 

 nest, except in mating 

 time. This occurs for 

 most of our species 

 in the late summer 

 or early fall, when, 

 for a few sunny days, the air may be swarming with 

 flying ants. These are the males and queens on their 

 wedding journeys. A number of species have in addition 

 to these three kinds " soldiers," which may be recognized 

 by their large size and huge jaws. 



Fig. 38. The Red Ant 

 a, female ; b, worker. (Enlarged. After Riley) 



