FEMALE GOVERNMENT 



-a sovereign deprived of queenhood, and in the hands of 

 regicides? Not so bad as that! The offices of the 

 guardians are at least friendly. They are a body-guard ; 

 in fact, the so-called "courtiers" of the ant queen a 

 phrase of courtesy, as is the word "queen," for the days 

 of sovereignty are over, and these keepers of the sacred 

 person are saying to her, in this decided way : 



" God did anoint you with His odorous oil 

 To wrestle, not to reign!" 



: \ ^^^^^M-^ f f^^^^m^^ : ^ 



Fig. 71 WORKERS TAKING EGGS FROM THE QUEEN MOTHER 



And here you may see a fair example of the sort of 

 " wrestling ' expected of her. She has paused in her 

 march around the room. She raises her body well upon 

 the hind pair of legs. See ! From the oviduct beneath 

 her abdomen she forces a minute, white, ovoid object 

 which has no sooner dropped than one of the body- 

 guard rushes from the inner circle, seizes it in her jaws, 

 and hurries therewith from the chamber (Fig. 71). It 

 is an egg the norm of a future citizen! The process 

 described will be repeated over and over again, many 

 thousand times, until the ovaries are exhausted or death 

 shall intervene. 



It is to save these precious particles of living matter 



161 



