ANT COMMUNITIES 



The author has not noted in newly dropped eggs any 

 marks indicative of differences between sex-eggs and 

 caste-eggs, nor does he know of observations by other 

 connoisseurs to that effect. If such exist they are of a 

 subtle character and escape ordinary observation. But 

 as the eggs develop into larvre and begin to grow, they 

 are easily separated into groups by their sizes, according 

 to the nature of castes, in any specific nest. So, also, 

 when the larvae have spun themselves into their 

 cocoons, the workers and the females issue from the large 

 cocoons, and both appear with their own distinctive 

 characters. There appears to be no seclusion of workers 

 for special feeding and care in order to produce queens, 

 as with bees. The larvae lie in common heaps, and share, 

 as far as can be noted, precisely the same amount of 

 feeding and attention. The worker castes, as well as 

 the males and females, show at once after emergence 

 from the pupal stage their distinctive characteristics, not 

 only in size, but in such a striking peculiarity as the 

 unusual development of the head of the soldier caste in 

 genera like Pheidole and Atta, although this is liable to 

 much variation. 



When the imago life is achieved, the radical difference 

 between the sexes and the worker forms soon appears. 

 The workers excel in complex instincts, and as they turn 

 to their various duties as nurses, builders, miners, for- 

 agers, sentinels, warriors, sanitarians, etc., they display 

 a plasticity of temperament that suggests the possession 

 of marked qualities. These are much less apparent in 

 the virgin queens, where, indeed, they scarcely appear. 

 But after fecundation, deflation, and entrance upon 

 nest-founding there is a rapid development of latent 

 qualities into action which their important role requires. 



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