this country (England) we have rather more than thirty, most of
which I have kept in confinement. Their life is comparatively long:
I have had working ants which were seven years old, and a queen ant
lived in one of my nests for fifteen years. The community consists,
in addition to the young, of males, which do no work, of wingless
workers, and one or more queen mothers, who have at first wings,
which, however, after one marriage flight, 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."

Solomon was, so far as we yet know, quite correct in describing
ants as having "neither guide, overseer, nor ruler." The so-called