1102 Marvels of the Universe 
females are unable to do 
this, but are received back, 
after the marriage flight, into 
their own or some other of 
the many nests in a large 
colony. 
The fact that numbers of 
branch nests often extend 
over a large area is probably 
the cause why these females 
have lost the power of colony 
founding alone. Should she 
have flown to a place where 
there are no nests of her 
own species, she seeks a small 
incipient or depauperated 
colony of a Black Ant and 
endeavours to enter its nest. 
Photo by] [H. Bastin. She is sometimes killed, but 
THE WOOD ANT. 
often succeeds in inducing the 
The white grub of the Wood Ant is here shown in four stages of growth. It 
will be seen that it is legless and helpless, and it depends upon the workers for food Black Ants to accept her, 
sn dumovement: when they bring up her brood. 
Should a black queen be present, she will be killed by the Wood Ant. The writer has seen young 
females entering the nests of the black species, and has found small, incipient mixed colonies of the 
two species in nature. He has also proved by experiments with observation nests, that the black 
species will accept a young female Wood Ant as their queen. In the course of time the Black Ants 
die off, and a pure Wood Ant colony is the result. | Under these circumstances the female is a 
temporary social parasite, and by such humble means the vast and wide-reaching nests of a 
populous colony may be brought about. 
The males of the Wood Ant are black, and possess four wings, as is the case with most male 
ants. The females and workers are red and black, the former having wings until after the marriage 
flight, but the workers never have any. The marriage flight takes place in the spring and early 
summer, after which the males die, and the females start to lay eggs. 
The eggs, which are licked and carried about by the workers, grow a little in size before the young 
grubs hatch. The latter are fed by the workers, both from their crops and by providing them with 
cut-up animal food. When full grown, the workers cover them with small particles of earth, and 
they spin cocoons in which they change to chrysalids. These are the so-called “ ants’ eggs,” which 
are collected and given to partridges and pheasants. The true eggs are, of course, very much smaller. 
Sometimes the grubs turn to chrysalids without first spinning a cocoon, and are then naked, as is 
always the case with a great number of other kinds of ants. 
The workers carry the brood about to the different chambers in the nest, for more moisture or 
heat, as the case may be. T hey help the newly-hatched ants, which are called “ callows,” out of 
the cocoons, and free them from the chrysalis skin. 
A large Wood Ants’ nest is also an asylum for many other creatures besides the ants themselves. 
A small Yellow Ant, which has a wingless male, only lives in these nests. It is also the home of a 
tiny spider, numbers of different beetles, some flies, and various other small insects and mites. 
Some of these prey on the ants; many are scavengers in the nest; others, again, are true 
parasites, laying their eggs and living in the bodies of their hosts. Some beetles only pass the 
earlier stages of their existence in the nest. One of these.is a large green “ chafer,” the female 
