Ants ihs 



ant which has just fallen. She digs (often with diffi- 

 culty) through the soil in some sheltered spot, 

 making a little tunnel which she closes from the 

 outside, thus shutting herself in. She proceeds to 

 enlarge the end of the little passage at the far end 

 and makes a little chamber where she rests till the 

 eggs in her body mature. This waiting may last 

 for months. Then she lays some eggs in the 



chamber and the larvae hatch ; they are small under- 

 sized ant babies (legless grubs), and they often 

 take a very long time to mature, sometimes nine 

 months. They pupate and then emerge as under- 

 sized worker ants. Now where did the queen- 

 mother ant get the food to feed her babies? She 

 had concentrated food supplies stored in her body, 

 so you see that female ants must be well fed and 

 cared for before they leave the old home, because 

 they have to live for nearly a year without any food 

 except what is stored in the body. During all the 

 long period of waiting, of hard work in rearing her 

 brood, she took no food from outside, for she was 

 locked up in her little underground home. This 

 scheme in founding an ant colony protects the 

 queen and young babies from enemies, for it is 

 difificult to locate such a home. 



But now the workers are hatched and they soon 

 get to work to help their overworked mother. They 

 cut a way out from their temporary prison by 

 making an entrance to the nest from the outside, 

 they build new passages and enlarge the nest and 

 now forage for food, they also feed the ant- 

 babies, look after their mother and take the whole 



