64 JUNGLE ISLAND 



by sticky juices from their mouths. The paper 

 of the nest in my tree was quite thin, and tough 

 enough to bend without breaking. In a country 

 where there was less rain the paper would be more 

 brittle. 



We never saw these ants near the ground, but 

 when we climbed the tree we always found them 

 traveling about high up in sunny, wind-swept 

 spots very different from the ground trails of the 

 Attas. They followed the same paths, which 

 looked no different to me from any other part of 

 the bark of the tree, and which they must have 

 followed by smell. Each time we climbed the 

 tree we had to kill several of them so that they 

 would not crawl over us while we worked astride 

 their pathway. 



Down in the Brazilian forest of South America 

 lives a relative of some Barro Colorado ants that 

 makes its nest in a still odder way. The nest is 

 made of leaves fastened together with silk. The 

 grown ants cannot spin silk. The baby ants can 

 spin silk, but they cannot weave it. This is 

 what happens: 



The big ants take the grubs in their forelegs 

 and hold them against the leaf they want to use, 

 until the silk thread dries on the leaf edge. When 

 the end of the thread is glued tightly the little 

 grub is carried across to another leaf edge, spin- 

 ning the thread as it goes, while other ants hold 

 the leaf in place (Fig. 29). Back and forth. 



