5 3 6 
Saw-flies, Gall-flies, Ichneumons, 
diate stages are sometimes seen. Finally there may exist ergatoid (worker¬ 
like) wingless but fertile females and males. Wheeler finds among the ants 
of the family Poneridae, which includes the most generalized or simplest 
of the ant kinds, that the “ queen and worker differ but little in size and 
structure; ergatoid females or forms intermediate between the queens and 
workers are of normal and comparatively frequent occurrence in some species; 
the habits of the queen and workers are very similar; the female is not an 
individual on whom special attention is bestowed by the workers, and the 
Fig. 741.—The little black ant, Monomorium minutum. a, female; b, female with wings; 
c, male; d, workers; e, pupa; /, larva; g, egg of worker. (After Marlatt; natural 
size indicated by line.) 
workers show no tendency to differentiate into major and minor castes.’ , 
This investigator has also noted at the other extreme a dimorphism of the 
queens (winged females) in Lasius latipes , a member of the specialized family 
Camponotidae, and in two genera, Leptogenys and Tomagnathus, the absence 
of any winged female, the queens having become degenerate to the extent of 
losing their wings. Hand in hand with this differentiation into castes and 
the accompanying differences in structure goes, of course, a division of labor 
or specialization of function, as will soon be pointed out. 
We have no such detailed and complete knowledge of the community 
life of ants as we have of the social wasps and bees; in particular we are 
