HYMENOPTERA 371 



drops of liquid food which they vomit forth for this purpose. Finally, 

 they have to bite through the tough cocoon, when the escaping insects 

 burst the pupal skin. 



D. Method of obtaining Food. 



Another section of the working females go out in search of food, and 

 bring it home when obtained. Their long and powerful legs (compare 

 with ground beetles and white cabbage butterfly) facilitate walking, and 

 their sharply-clawed feet enable the insects to climb up trees, etc. Here 

 some may be seen dragging a worm along; there others are gnawing 

 away at the body of some dead animal till nothing but the skeleton is 

 left ; on the trees a number of them may be seen hunting after all sorts 

 of woodland pests; others, again, are climbing up to their " milch cows," 

 the plant lice or aphides (which see), in order to lap up their sweet 

 excretions, for ants are particularly fond of sweet substances. (The 

 lingua, however, is much shorter than in bees. "Why are ants unable to 

 live exclusively on plant juices like lepidopterous insects, or as bees do 

 to a large extent ?) During the cold season our native ants are unable 

 to find food ^r to lay up stores of reserve material (why not ?) ; they 

 accordingly enter upon a stage of hibernation. 



E. Friends and Messmates of Ants. 



In addition to the plant lice, ants have a quite peculiar circle of 

 friends. In their nests we find a number of other insects and their 

 larvae, which are maintained and protected by them like their own 

 sisters ; some, indeed, are actually fed, having, as the result of nurture, 

 lost the power of feeding themselves. What services these boarders 

 render their hosts in return is not known. Possibly they, too, like the 

 aphides, yield up sweet secretions. 



F. Enemies. 



{a) If an ant-hill be struck, its inhabitants rush forth like men from 

 their houses during an earthquake. At the same time we observe a fine 

 spray arising from the ant-heap, which is produced by the insects 

 ejecting from the end of the abdomen a poisonous fluid intended to 

 drive off their disturber. If we catch some of this spray in the palm 

 of our hand, we notice that it possesses a strong aromatic smell, which 

 is due to formic acid contained in the fluid. This poison the red ant, 

 which, unlike other species, is unprovided with a sting, endeavours to 

 introduce into the bite which it inflicts with its mandibles. In this 

 operation the great mobility and suppleness of its whole body is of great 



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