ic heap. Species of _Camponotus_ and many other ants tunnel in
wood. In tropical countries ants sometimes make their nests in the
hollow thorns of trees or on leaves; species with this habit are
believed to make a return to the tree for the shelter that it affords by
protecting it from the ravages of other insects, including their own
leaf-cutting relations.

_Early Stages._--The larvae of ants (fig. 3, e) are legless and helpless
maggots with very small heads (fig. 3, f), into whose mouths the
requisite food has to be forced by the assiduous "nurse" workers. The
maggots are tended by these nurses with the greatest care, and carried
to those parts of the nest most favourable for their health and growth.
When fully grown, the maggot spins an oval silken cocoon within which it
pupates (fig. 3, g). These cocoons, which may often be seen carried
between the mandibles of the workers, are the "ants' eggs" prized as
food for fish and pheasants. The workers of a Ceylonese ant (_Oecophylla
smaragdina_) are stated by D. Sharp to hold the maggots between their
mandibles and induce them to spin together the leaves of trees from
which they form their shelters, as the adult ants have no silk-producing
organs.

_Origin of Societies._--Ant-colonies are founded either by a single
female or by several in association. The foundress of the nest lays eggs
and at first feeds and rears the larvae, the earliest of which develop
into workers. C. Janet observed that in a nest of _Lasius alienus_,
established by a single female, the first workers emerged from their
cocoons on the 102nd day. These workers then take on themselves the
labour of the colony, some collecting food, which they transfer to their
comrades within the nest whose duty is to tend and feed the larvae. The
foundress-queen is now waited on by the workers, who supply her with
food and spare her all cares of work, so that henceforth she may devote
her whole energies to egg-laying. The population of the colony increases
fast, and a well-grown nest contains several "queens" and males, besides
a large number of workers. One of the most interesting features of
ant-societies is the dimorphism or polymorphism that may often be seen
among the workers, the same species being represented by two or more
forms. Thus the British "wood ant" (_Formica rufa_) has a smaller and a
larger race of workers ("minor" and "major" forms), while in _Ponera_ we
find a blind race of workers and another race