224 
HYMENOPTERA. 
Formicida^.— Ants. 
The basal one or tiro segments of the abdomen are in 
the form of detached nodes. 
Ants are sufficiently familiar but the above character is occasionally 
required to verify the fact of a specimen really belonging to this family. 
They are in general small 
insects, of dull colouring, 
usually brown or black ; 
in only a few is the length 
greater than a quarter of 
an inch and these large 
forms will be taken for 
wasps. The head bears 
antennae which have a Fig. 124.— Solenos ispgeminata, worker. 
long basal joint (scape) 
and a number of short joints (flagellum); in the males of some species 
the scape is short. The mouthparts are small, the mandibles often of 
peculiar form. The thorax is much modified in different species and 
in different forms of the same species. The legs are long and most 
species can run actively. The abdomen is distinct, in the female and 
worker of six visible segments, in the male of seven, and is usually 
larger in the female. 
Ants are social, living in communities in which there is a consider¬ 
able amount of specialisation of forms to serve the purposes of a useful 
Fig. 125 ;—Camponotus compres¬ 
ses, WORKER MINOR, X 3. 
Fig. 126 —Camponotus oompressus, worker 
major, x 3. 
