THE COMMUNITY OF THE ANTS 



leaf is too distant for the ants to seize it unaided, they form chains 

 in order to reach it, just as they do in building a Hving bridge. When 

 the edges are touching, something so astonishing happens that the 

 scientist who first observed the procedure — this was in India, but 

 the ants were of a similar species — could not believe his own eyes. 

 A few of the ants run back into the nest, and presently reappear, 

 each carrying a maggot-like larva between her mandibles. They 

 press the mouths of these larvae to the edge of the one leaf, and then 

 transfer it to the edge of the other; meanwhile the larvae exude 

 some of the silk of which they subsequently spin their cocoons, so 

 that a thread is spun between the two leaves, adhering to the spots 

 to which the mouths of the larvae were pressed. 



Thus the "Weaver Ants" actually make use of tools: a rare 

 procedure in the animal kingdom as a whole, but absolutely un- 

 heard of in the insect world ! And in order that they may perform 

 their work, the larvae have been endowed with particularly well- 

 developed silk-glands: four large sacs, which run the whole length 

 of the body. As the ants constantly ply their living shuttles from 

 leaf to leaf, the threads emerging from the mouths of the larvae, 

 crossing one another in all directions, finally form a solid fabric, 

 which can be cut with a pair of scissors, and binds the edges of the 

 two leaves together. More and more leaves are thus woven together, 

 and at last a green hollow sphere of leaves hangs from the tree, and 

 in this the Weaver Ants live. 



The Sarasaras are widely distributed in Brazil; the red-legged 

 species builds semi-spherical nests above the surface of the ground, 

 which, if one cuts them open, reveal a very intricate structure of 

 superimposed galleries of a paper-like substance. The Cupim ants 

 eagerly devour termites, and are therefore useful. One day it was 

 reported that an ant had been discovered which ate the generally 

 detested Sauva. Over and over again these "Cuyabana" ants were 

 actually imported by planters, and they did really drive out the 

 Leafcutting Ants, but only to replace them, and overrun the orchards, 

 on whose foliage plant-lice were to be found. For the favourite food 

 of these, as of other ants, is the sap which the plant-Hce suck, and 

 sprinkle over the leaves in the form of their saccharine excretions. 

 These warlike creatures naturally protect the plant-lice from their 

 enemies, and so assist these pests to multiply undisturbed. The 

 Cuyabanas, moreover, make their way into dwelling-houses, and 

 have sometimes made it so uncomfortable to remain in them that 

 the planters have tried to find buyers for their estates. 



X 321 



