The Ants 



inches high. The honey-bearers are found clinging to the roofs 

 of the chambers, a few inches under the 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 a gall 

 which is found upon a dwarf oak. In times of famine and in 

 seasons when the exudation is not forthcoming the honey-bearer 

 regurgitates the honey, drop by drop, and it is transferred to the 

 stomachs of the individuals in waiting. In other respects the 

 economy of the colony does not differ materially from other 

 species. There is practically with this insect a new caste of 

 workers which probably are not gradually transformed by the 

 distension of the crop and the expansion of the abdomen, but 

 which have some peculiar structure or form of the intestine and 

 abdominal walls which gives them a tendency to this change. 



Fig. 24. — Ants at play. ( Redrawn from McCook.) 



They become simply animated pantries for the use of the others 

 in time of want. Dr. H. C. McCook has written a charming 

 book upon this subject, which is entitled, "The Honey Ants and 

 the Occident Ants," and the same distinguished entomologist and 

 divine has written another book, entitled, "The Agricultural Ant 

 of Texas," which gives a most interesting account of the most 

 interesting ants found in this country, and which includes at the 

 same time many observations, scattered here and there throughout 

 the volume, on other ants to be found in the United States. 



A word may well be said of the household ants. The little 

 red ant ( Monomorium pharaonis) has become thoroughly do- 

 mesticated, passing its entire existence in houses and having its 

 nests in the walls or beneath the flooring. The little black ant, 

 (Monomorium minutum), and the pavement ant of the Eastern 

 States (Tetramorium ccespitum) are also frequently found in 



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