566 
ARTICFLATA. 
ANTS AND THEIR STRCCTUEES. 
THE HETEROGYNA. 
This tribe, -whicli includes the various kinds of Ants, is composed entirely of insects wliicli 
live in communities, consisting of tliree distinct kinds of individuals — males, females, and neuters. 
The males and females are winged, the former during the whole, the latter during a part only of 
their existence in the perfect state. They make their appearance in great numbers at a partic- 
ular period of the summer, when they quit the nest in Avhich their preparatory stages have been 
passed, and pair in the air. When this has been accomplished, the males speedily dre; the 
females lose their wings and crawl about upon the ground until they fall in with some neuters, 
which immediately seize upon them and convey them to their nest. The neuters, which form 
the bulk of the community, are in reality females, in which, probably from difference of food in the 
larva state, the sexual organs have remained undeveloped. Like the perfect females, they are 
furnished with a sting. It is upon them that the entire labor of the society devolves ; they 
form the nest, carry off the eggs when laid by the female, and attend to the larvae, feeding them 
with the utmost care. 
The houses of ants exhibit a great diversity of structure ; but the larvse are never inclosed in 
