THE COMMUNITY OF THE ANTS 



her antennae until its mandibles begin to move, whereupon she 

 thrusts an egg between them, often hastening the feeding process 

 by giving the larva a few kicks. The egg is torn open by the sharp 

 mandibles of the larva, and its contents enter the creature's mouth. 

 Huber ascertained that it takes a fairly large larva three to five 

 minutes to suck an egg. 



As soon as the larvae have pupated, and the first young workers 

 have emerged from the pupae, the latter help the queen in her 

 work; in other words, they let their droppings fall on the fungus- 

 bed. "It is amusing to see," says Huber, "how the insects carefully 

 feel the spot in question after depositing their dung, and how at 

 times the mother-ant comes and inspects the work accompUshed 

 with an air of satisfaction, feeling the place and hastily licking the 

 fungus round about it." 



The queen has now accomplished her most important task; she 

 need work no more at building the nest, and she is relieved even of 

 the task of feeding the larvae. For eight or ten days she is constantly 

 at work; then, with her duties, even her supremacy is taken from 

 her. Now the workers excavate a gallery in the wall of the under- 

 ground colony, and for the first time the air of the outer world 

 enters the dismal chamber. The queen is allowed to eat no more 

 eggs ; they are taken from her as they leave her body, and tended 

 by the workers. At the same time the workers begin to make their 

 journeys to the surface; the industrious creatures climb up various 

 plants, cut a circular fragment out of the nearest leaf, until it hangs, 

 so to speak, by a thread, seize it in their mandibles, tear it off, and 

 carry it down to the ground and into the nest. Here the first beds of 

 compost are made, fungus is planted on them, and on the "kohlrabis" 

 which presently sprout from it the larvae are fed, and the queen also. 

 It is hunger that persuades her to this alteration of her diet. From 

 this time onwards she is only an egg-laying machine, and is able 

 to devote all her energies to the business of laying. Thus from day 

 to day the community becomes more populous. 



Is it not marvellous that the queen should provide herself with 

 food before migrating from the nest, and should yet refrain from 

 eating this food, but, in order to guard it, should not hesitate to 

 slay her children, that she may preserve the precious substance for 

 the future State? Truly the Leafcutting Ants are an eloquent example 

 of the silent operation of an inner Power in the creations of Nature. 

 And I hope I shall be forgiven if I confess that during my attempts 

 to fight this insect I was always troubled by my admiration for them, 



311 



