173 



ia deprived of these appendages joint by joint, and ultimately is left to move on 

 mere stumps, when it dies in a few hours. In doing this, the smaller insects 

 take particular care not to approach within the reach of the "soldier's" 

 mandibles, as to do so is certain destruction to the individual who has such 

 temerity ; they seldom do so, but on the contrary, the object appears to be to 

 keep as far away as possible and to hold the legs fully extended while effecting 

 their object of cutting them off piece by piece. 



*' Soldiers," again, when placed together fight among themselves, and a 

 bodiless head and thorax is frequently seen stalking about after such meetings. 

 When placed together in spirit they at once seize one another and form them- 

 selves up into a complete mass, which is tightly held together by the mandibles. 



The "soldier" of Atta cephalotes is the same in form in Nicaragua as in 

 Trinidad, and possesses the same powers of defence and offence. 



Trinidad, January 9, 1896. 



The duties of the larger and smaller forms of workers are to 

 cut and bring in the pabulum or material on which the fungus grows 

 which serves them as food ; to help in the defence of the nest, and to 

 act as carriers of the eggs, larvae, or pupae in case of a migration. 

 They cut and bring in leaves, twigs, flowers, fruit, and in fact almost 

 every kind of soft vegetable matter, and in so doing a large nest will 

 often strip a forest tree of its leaves in a single night. When the 

 leaves are brought into a nest, they are first cleaned or licked over 

 and then chewed up in little balls, which are placed one upon another, 

 like an irregular pile or heap of bread in a baker's shop. Amid 

 these little balls the mycelium soon spreads, and in a short time little 

 bunches of conidia called by Moller " Kohl-Eabi" make their appear- 

 ance, forming tiny white points on the spongy surface, and it is this 

 portion of the fungus which forms the food both of the larvve and 



MATURE INSECTS, AND NOT THE LEAVES WHICH ARE CARRIED IN, Avhich are 



in no case eaten by these insects. 



The form known as the " Nurse" also appears to act as gardener 

 and scavenger, and no other but the special fungus on which the ants 

 feed is allowed to make its appearance in the nest. It appears almost 

 certain however, from actual observation, that the nurses (possibly 

 under orders from higher authority) are able to raise from the egg — 

 or an egg — any form they may require, simply by the method they 

 adopt for feeding the larvse, for it has been observed that the greatest 

 development takes place during this stage, and that once the larva 

 assumes the pupa form we can readily determine what particular class 

 of insect will emerge therefrom ; the queen appearing to be the highest 

 developed form and the nurse the lowest, the latter taking the 

 shortest time and the least food, and the former the longest time and 

 greatest amount of food. 



