86 CURIOUS HOMES AND THEIR TENANTS. 



purpose, about six incties long by four in height. 

 Here they cling to the ceiling of the apartment, their 

 distended crops hanging downward like clusters of 

 small grapes. 



The small workers forage among the trees in the 

 neighborhood for food, and find it in what are known 

 as galls — curious enlargements of growths on plants 

 formed by insects in depositing their eggs in the 

 wood, the latter growing about it, and allowing the 

 escape of a liquid that is greatly esteemed by ants, 

 and certainly tastes like honey. Filling their bodies 

 with this material, the workers proceed to the store- 

 room and deliver it up to the honey-bearers, who re- 

 tain it until it is needed ; for when the other ants de- 

 sire their rations they go to the dark chamber and are 

 forthwith supplied with all they want. 



The bodies of the honej^-bearers are evidently 

 formed by Nature for the purpose, being covered 

 \vith plates that spread apart when the portion of 

 the body they cover is distended. 



Not only do the honey bottles furnish food for 

 their brothers and sisters, but also for human beings. 

 They are used as desserts, as we use grapes or cur- 

 i-iints, by the natives of New Mexico. A plate of 

 these ants is set before a guest, who by a pressure 

 of the distended sac between the teeth extracts the 

 honey. 



