Honey Ants

Some species of ants, in America and Australia, collect nectar from flowers and the honeydew of aphids and scale insects and store them in their honey-casks. These honey-casks are in the ant's abdomen. When the honey-cask is full of honey the abdomen becomes very swollen and yellow. The honey-casks are filled in times of plenty and used by the ants in times of famine when there is little to eat. These honey-casks are attached to the roof of the ants' nest, and whenever an ant is hungry it tickles the honey-casks with its antennae and receives a droplet of honey.

Aborigines sometimes eat honey-ants. When game was scarce during droughts, tribal aborigines depended on the women's work with digging sticks to supply yams, witchetty grubs, and honey ants.

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