- i s ANTS. 



1 iranches of the tree 1 -." A similar nest is constructed by Camponotus 

 scnc.\' in the forests of Urazil. 



As no adult insects are known to produce silk, the question natur- 

 ally arises as to ho\v the ants manage to make these nests. Misled by 

 some inadequate observations on (Ecophylla published by Aitken in 

 1X00, Korel concluded that the silk was spun by the workers from the 

 maxillary glands. In other words, he believed it to be equivalent to the 

 glandular component of the carton manufactured by other ants. Sub- 

 sequent observations, however, have shown that it has a very different 

 and more remarkable origin. Ridley (1890) discovered in Singapore 

 that (Ecoplivlla uses its larvae for spinning the silk of its nest. His 

 observations were confirmed by Holland and Green (1896, 1899) and 

 Dodd (1902). Chun in 1903 observed that the spinning glands or 

 sericteries of CEcophylla larvae are enormously developed and Saville 

 Kent is said to have figured the spinning larvae of CEcophylla from 

 specimens found in Australia (1897). More recently (1905) Dotiein 

 has published some interesting observations on the nest-building habits 

 of this ant. I here reproduce his account together with three of the 

 accompanying figures. On opening a nest for the purpose of studying 

 its reconstruction Doflein observed " that while the majority of the 

 workers betook themselves to defending their home, a small troop went 

 to work to repair the rent I had made in its wall. They lined up in a 

 very peculiar manner in a straight row as shown in the figure. They 

 seized the edge of the leaf on one side of the rent while they fastened 

 themselves by means of the claws on their six feet to the surface of 

 another leaf (Fig. 122). Then they began to pull, slowly and cau- 

 tiously, carefully placing one foot behind the other, while the edges of 

 the rent were seen gradually to approach each other. It was a bizarre 

 sight to see the animals thus working side by side with their bodies in a 

 regular parallel series. 



' Now others came and began to cut away very carefully the rem- 

 nants of the old web along the edges of the rent. They bit through the 

 web with their mandibles and tugged at it till it came away in shreds. 

 These shreds they carried off in their mandibles to an exposed part of 

 the nest and let them fly away in the wind, opening their mandibles 

 whenever there was a gust. I also saw a whole row of ants carry a big 

 piece of web to the tip of a leaf, open their mandibles as if at command 

 and permit the piece to flutter away. 



These operations lasted nearly an hour when suddenly a strong 

 gust of wind tore the edges of the rent out of the ants' mandibles and 

 frustrated all their efforts. But the ants were not discouraged. Again 



