need smoke to subdue the guards and a veil to protect the
face. Can you find the queen? Is she larger than the workers? Examine
for honey-comb, bee-bread, worker brood, queen cells and drone cells. If
possible study the actions of a colony while swarming.

Write a brief report of what you can learn of the life, work and habits
of the honey bee.

* * * * *

"_Happy insect, what can be
In happiness compared to thee?
Fed with nourishment divine,
The dewy morning's gentle wine!_

"_Nature waits upon thee still,
And thy verdant cup does fill;
'Tis filled wherever thou doest tread
Nature's self thy Ganymede._

"_Thou doest drink and dance and sing,
Happier than the happiest king!
All the fields which thou doest see,
All the plants belong to thee,
All the summer hours produce,
Fertile made with early juice,
Man for thee does sow and plough,
Farmer he, and landlord thou._"

--From THE GREEK OF ANACREON.

CHAPTER XVII

THE ANT

The ants are closely related to the bees and are similar to them in many
respects. They live in colonies consisting of workers, drones, and a
queen. The males or drones appear at swarming time and the workers are
divided into various castes--warriors, guards, nurses, etc. Those
families of ants, however, which seem to have what approaches real
intelligence, far outstrip the bees in many respects. In some cases ants
seem to be able to plan and carry out lines of work very much the same
as man does. The various stages of human intelligence or races of men
from the savage to the intelligent man are in a way similar to the
various races of ants. There are ants which live as hunters, others
which live as shepherds and still others more highly developed which
grow crops either in or near the nest as is the case with the fungus
growing ants. This striking similarity between the development of ants
and man offers ground for much speculation.

[Illustration: Ant hill showing activity and stages of development; a,
egg; b, young grub; c, pupa; d, worker; e, queen with wings; f, worker
carrying young grub; all enlarged. The ant hill and workers at work much
reduced.]

Some ants may be of considerable value to man while others are the
source of great annoyance and injury. The tidy housewife usually places
the ant in the same category with co