ht, they throw off,
as they never leave the nest again, and in it wings would of course be
useless. The workers do not, except occasionally, lay eggs, but carry on
all the affairs of the community. Some of them, and especially the
younger ones, remain in the nest, excavate chambers and tunnels, and
tend the young, which are sorted up according to age, so that my nests
often had the appearance of a school, with the children arranged in
classes.

In our English Ants the workers in each species are all similar except
in size, but among foreign species there are some in which there are two
or even more classes of workers, differing greatly not only in size, but
also in form. The differences are not the result of age, nor of race,
but are adaptations to different functions, the nature of which,
however, is not yet well understood. Among the Termites those of one
class certainly seem to act as soldiers, and among the true Ants also
some have comparatively immense heads and powerful jaws. It is doubtful,
however, whether they form a real army. Bates observed that on a
foraging expedition the large-headed individuals did not walk in the
regular ranks, nor on the return did they carry any of the booty, but
marched along at the side, and at tolerably regular intervals, "like
subaltern officers in a marching regiment." He is disposed, however, to
ascribe to them a much humbler function, namely, to serve merely "as
indigestible morsels to the ant thrushes." This, I confess, seems to me
improbable.

Solomon was, so far as we yet know, quite correct in describing Ants as
having "neither guide, overseer, nor ruler." The so-called Queens are
really Mothers. Nevertheless it is true, and it is curious, that the
working Ants and Bees always turn their heads towards the Queen. It
seems as if the sight of her gave them pleasure. On one occasion, while
moving some Ants from one nest into another for exhibition at the Royal
Institution, I unfortunately crushed the Queen and killed her. The
others, however, did not desert her, or draw her out as they do dead
workers, but on the contrary carried her into the new nest, and
subsequently into a larger one with which I supplied them, congregating
round her for weeks just as if she had been alive. One could hardly
help fancying that they were mourning her loss, or hoping anxiously for
her recovery.

The Communities of Ants are sometimes very large, numbering even up to
500,000 individuals; and i