PROBLEM OF COMMUNAL DEPENDENTS 



may be the depth or quality of such feelings in ants we 

 may not know, but surely kindly nature has not denied 

 some just measure thereof to these faithful and laborious 

 creatures. But, as far as the observer can note, these 

 are small factors in determining emmet behavior. And, 

 withal, work is work, in an ant commune as elsewhere. 

 Its burdens are often severe, its risks are great, and the 

 number of workers daily maimed and slain in the course 

 of duty is a heavy drain upon the vital resources of all 

 such communities. 



Yet, how diligently their task is wrought, how cheer- 

 fully, how patiently, how bravely, how well ! Silent citi- 

 zens of the ant city! With all his God-like endowments, 

 man may well consider your ways herein as worthy 

 models for his own relations to the commonwealth and 

 the common weal. It may be true that all this admi- 

 rable conduct is wrought without moral consciousness 

 and freewill, such as mark " articulate speaking men," 

 undesignedly, instinctively, automatically, if you please. 

 But .there it is. And it is there by that Over-thought 

 and Over-force who has appointed destiny and basal 

 character for communes of ants as well as for cities of 

 men. And by this bond and fellowship we may find 

 a common ground for our admiration and for imitation. 



We have seen that the first eggs laid by the ant queen 

 are embryo workers. This follows necessarily from the 

 fact that new communities arise from single fertile 

 females. The existence and growth of the society re- 

 quire that its first members should be helpers and not 

 dependents. Only when the pioneer colony is strong 

 enough in workers to add to the needful conditions of 

 ordinary life and growth the burden of supporting the 

 males and females do these sexed forms appear. 



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