Unlike modern authors, Homer is not quick to reveal his personal beliefs; rather, they come about subtly, through the dialogue between two characters.
Harvester ant. Harvester ant is a common name for any of the species or genera of ants that collect seeds (called seed predation), or mushrooms as in the case of Euprenolepis procera, which are stored in the nest in communal chambers called granaries.
Ants are social insects and are divided up into three castes: workers, males, and queens (figure 1). Workers are sterile, wingless females which range in size from 1/20 inch long to about 1/2 inch long. The workers of some ant species vary in size and are divided into major (large) and minor (small) workers. Ants vary in color from yellow to red to brown and black and various combinations of these. Like all insects, ants have three distinctive body parts: head, thorax, and abdomen. All ants have a pair of elbowed (bent) antennae on the head and a constricted area between the thorax and abdomen called the petiole. The petiole has either one or two nodes (bumps) (figure 2).