Insects : their life-histories and habits . - , - ~ *?* i - V* - ? *• A* :- ??? - - ^. - •?- AA.*V»--???• ••\fe,-».?• Xest of Wood-ant (Furriuca rufa). Nest of a Carder Humble-bee (Bombiis muscorum), opened to show the cocoons INSECT COMMUNITIES 293 a humble-bees nest. In this case, however, the welfareof the young must be the sole incentive, for there is nostore of honey to pilfer. The social habits of ants are even more complex andremarkable than those of bees and wasps. Moreover,while the communities of some species are less perfectlyorganised than others, solitary ants are unknown. Yetants
Insects : their life-histories and habits . - , - ~ *?* i - V* - ? *• A* :- ??? - - ^. - •?- AA.*V»--???• ••\fe,-».?• Xest of Wood-ant (Furriuca rufa). Nest of a Carder Humble-bee (Bombiis muscorum), opened to show the cocoons INSECT COMMUNITIES 293 a humble-bees nest. In this case, however, the welfareof the young must be the sole incentive, for there is nostore of honey to pilfer. The social habits of ants are even more complex andremarkable than those of bees and wasps. Moreover,while the communities of some species are less perfectlyorganised than others, solitary ants are unknown. Yetants, as a family, do not excel in architecture. Theyhave no specialised building material such as wax or papier-mache. Some species dwell in subterranean chambers orburrow into decaying tree stumps; others, as we havealready seen, frequent the internodes or interstices ofliving plants; while a few take up their abode in the wallsof larger ants nests, and (like mice in our houses) live byfilching the stores of their hosts. In this country the most pretentious nests are madeby the large species of the genus Formica, of which thecommon red wood-ant or
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectinsects, bookyear1913
