SOME INSECT ADAPTATIONS. 
89 
began an aquatic life to which they became gradually 
adapted by a process similar to that by which the 
butterfly obtains his protective coloring. In fact the 
aquatic life is a protection, either from destructive 
enemies or from starvation. 
Insect Communities. In speaking of the life-history 
of the aphides we mentioned the fact that ants some¬ 
times keep these insects to provide them with honey- 
dew. It is also true that some ants capture the pupae 
of ants of other communities than their own and rear 
them as slaves. To obtain these pupae wars are often 
waged, hence cooperation is necessary. Cooperation 
leads to life in communities and life in communities 
makes necessary a division of labor, so that we find 
nurses, foragers, soldiers, queens, and drones working 
together in the same community, all developed from 
eggs which are apparently just alike. 
This production of seemingly different insects seems 
to be sometimes a matter of choice on the part of the 
rulers of the community, for it has been found that a 
worker grub, among bees, may be developed into a 
queen by the use of special food and the building of a 
royal chamber. This division of labor is best illustrated 
among bees, ants, and wasps. 
Hive-bees. In a bee community there is one female 
called the queen who produces all the eggs. There 
are a small number of males called drones. All the 
rest of the inmates of the hive are workers. The 
workers are in reality immature females. They are 
provided with stings which are modified ovipositors. 
The wax is produced within the bodies of these workers 
and issues from between the segments of the abdomen, 
whence it is taken and skilfully built into the honey¬ 
comb, with which all are familiar. The honey, when 
taken from the nectaries of flowers, passes into a sort 
of crop, or honey-bag, where it undergoes changes 
which alter its flavor. It is then brought to the hive 
and stored in the cells of the honeycomb. The young 
