ANT COMMUNITIES 



She was now, indeed, monarch of all she surveyed. 

 She had wholly extinguished the colony of adult Sub- 

 sericeas brought up under and devoted to the old regime, 

 and was in a position to rear around her from her kid- 

 napped pupae and larvae a commune to the manner 

 born, who would accept her headship and build up a 

 loyal citizenship. 



She seemed to taKe a greater interest in the pupae than 

 in the larvae naturally, perhaps, because from the former 

 would come her first effective helpers. And they soon 

 began to come. That night (July 16th) five callow ants 

 appeared, and one larva was partly eaten. Had it been 

 sacrificed to the queen's appetite, or had it died first? 

 That afternoon she was seen opening a cocoon to release 

 a mature pupa. She used her fore and middle feet to 

 hold the stiff silken cocoon-case, while with her mandibles 

 she tore it open. The youngling aided her by thrusting 

 out legs and antennae, and was soon drawn through the 

 hole, to begin the life of an imago novitiate. 



Now the work of delivery went briskly on. When- 

 ever the nest was uncovered, Rubicunda might be seen 

 either opening a cocoon or removing the pupal envelope 

 from a new-born callow. A week thereafter the whole 

 brood of living pupae, one hundred and thirty, had been 

 set free, the older callows assisting in delivering their 

 sisters. The queen took the greatest interest in her 

 black family, and they in turn soon began to care for her. 

 They fed her and cleansed her, plying their tongues to her 

 body in the usual shampooing process. 



Meanwhile a marked change occurred in her instincts. 

 Instead of resenting intrusion, and rushing to the de- 

 fence of her brood when the formicary w r as opened, she 

 slunk awav and tried to hide among the workers. She 



v O 



268 



