Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/686

PAET3 OF AN ANT. a, Head ; b. Antenna ; Jaws; rf, Thorax and Legs; €, Peduncle ; /, Abdomen.

ant's plea in either law or equity. See Plea; Pleadikg, and the authorities there referred to.

ANT (A. S. wmete: Ger, Amctse : from O. H. G. meiznn. to cut, the original meaning thus being "cut in"; as in Gk. ei-Towot. entomos, Lat. insectum). A small hynienojiterous insect of the family Formicidse, closely related to the wasps and bees, not only in structure, but in instincts and socialistic economy. "Emmet" is an older form of the word "ant" still in use, and "pis- mire" is a common word occasionally heard. Ants are easily recognized by the well-known form of the body. The demarca- tion between head, tho- rax, and abdomen is very noticeable in these in- sects. From the termites and velvet ants, which most resemble them, true ants can readily be distinguished by the peculiar form of the abdomen, the first or first two seg- ments of which are constricted off, to form a separately jointed small knob or scale, which greatly increases the flexibility of the body. Classification. The ants", according "to the best authorities, form a single family, Formi- cidfe, divided into six subfamilies. The subfami- lies are founded mainly on the condition of the peduncle or part constricted off from the al)do- men {whether composed of one or two portions), and on the presence or absence of a sting. Polymorphism and Division of Labor. As in other Hymenoptera, there is, first of all, a di- morphism of the female sex. But among ants complexity of form goes further than this, on ac- count of the complexity of the social organiza- tion. For the ant colony frequently contains enslaved individuals belonging to another species. The different forms of ants are the results of division of labor among the members of the col- ony. Of the infertile females or workers, some are gatherers of food, some are nurses for the young, while others, of a larger size, act as sol- diers to protect the ranks of foraging workers. In certain species certain workers serve as living storehouses. (See Honey-making Ants.) Each of these difl'erences in labor is associated with a dif- ference in form. Even among individuals of the same sex and cast, considerable variability oc- curs. Although the workers are usually wingless, certain ones have been observed with short wings. A part or all of the fertile females may be wing- less. Occasionally wingless males may exist to- gether with the winged, while the wingless pre- vail in a few species.

The OuiGiN and Maintenance of Colonies. Upon the appearance of the winged males and females in the ant colony, both are guarded by the workers until a suitable time for flight. Finally, they are let out on warm days in sum- mer and autumn to appear in the air in myi-iads. Mating is supposed to take place while on the wing. Soon after mating, the males die and those females that escape enemies and inclement weath- er settle do to the ground, tear off their wings, and make excavations in materials suitable to the construction of their nest. The eggs are then laid, and upon hatching the larvae are fed on some substance already stored up within the body of the queen, since she never goes out for food. When the workers of the first set, which are of small size, appear, the care of the larv;E and pupae devolves upon them, and there- after the queen devotes herself exclusively to egg-laying. Thus a new colony is established. Frequently one or more young queens are found by workers and conveyed to colonies already es- tablished, which they continue to maintain should the former queen be old. Thus more than one queen-ant may, without quarrels, live in a single colony. The workers feed the queen, and follow her on her wanderings throughout the passages and chambers. As she lets fall the eggs, the workers carry them to suitable locations. the queen's presence they not infrequently perform those same peculiar antics and capers which they employ to express their emotions upon the re- turn of a lost comrade. The legless larva" and the pupiE are carried to the surface layers by day, for the sake of the sun's warmth, and at night, or during rain, to deeper and drier chambers. The larv;? are fed by the nurses on regurgitated, half- digested food, or on a suljstance elaborated by them. They are carefully licked and rubbed by the nurses to keep them clean, and when the time arrives for the pupiie to emerge from their silken or naked sheaths, the workers are at hand to help them out and to unfold and dry their wings and legs.

Food. As is the case with all the other labors of the colony, getting the food depends upon the workers. All sorts of available matter, both dead and freshly killed, serve them for food. They are fond of sweets, too, both animal and vege- table. The nectar of flowers and the sweet saps and juices of plants and fruits are sought. Sugar is ever a temptation to them. The honey-dew ex- creted by plant-lice, the milch-cows of ants, is especially prized. To secure it ants will climb even high trees. They follow the aphids about so as to catch the sweet excretion, and even stroke them to hasten its expulsion. When the sap supply for the aphids fails, the ants carry their "cows" to new food-plants, and when winter comes on, both the adult plant-lice and the eggs are carried out of reach of frost into the ant caverns and carefully attended until spring, when they are again placed on the swelling plant-buds. In warm lands several kinds of ants, such as the agricultural ant (q.v. ) of Texas, rear, harvest, and store grain. The Texan species is Pogoniyr- me.x barbatus. Some ants, studied by Belt in Nic- aragua and by Bates in Brazil, accumulate bits of leaves within their caverns or line the walls with them. On the leaf-bits a fungus gi-ows, or is planted, which serves the ants as food. While often very destructive to crops and stored su])- plies, ants such as the hunting-ants of South America, or the driver-ants of Africa, are useful scavengers; for not a bedbug, booklouse, moth, cockroach, niou.se or rat is overlooked by their myriad niunbers. See Driver Ant; Foraging Ant; Leaf-cutting Ant, and Sauba Ant.

Nests and Nest Building. In their nest building ants ditl'er from all other social Hymenoptera. The nests or combs of bees are divided into even compartments or cells, whose walls are made of wax, while those of social wasps are built of a papery pulp, derived from masticated weather-worn ood. In each cell one egg is laid and one individual is reared. The young of ants, on the other hand, are kept in heaps and moved about fiom one part of the nest to the other as conditions of temperature and moisture demand.