1915] Cocoons Among Ants 329 
individually invisible threads. In other cases the movements 
were more varied so that the threads crossed and recrossed 
one another till they gradually formed a delicate film or tissue. 
Only very young larve, about 2-3 mm. in length, were employed. 
The nest was watched till darkness came on. There was no 
movement on the part of the ants that were warping and holding 
the stiff leaves in place, and the weaving workers were still 
toiling when I was compelled to return to my hotel for the 
night. © 
At nine o’clock on the following morning, when I hastened 
to the nest, I found few ants on its outer surface and none holding 
the leaves in position, for during the night the ants had filled out 
all the narrow spaces with white silken tissue. This must have 
represented an enormous amount of labor on the part of the 
workers and a corresponding expenditure of material on the 
part of the larve. On gently opening a few of the sutures so 
that I could look into the nest, I found that the chains of 
‘workers were now stationed on the inside warping the leaves 
while the larve were being employed in spinning them together 
to form chambers. The spaces between the leaves were full of 
ants and brood as the whole colony had now moved into the 
new quarters. The day was growing warm and the leaves of 
the nest were beginning to wilt as the result of my breaking 
the branch on the previous day. 
At three o'clock I again visited the nest and was startled by 
the great change which it had undergone. The heat of the sun 
had dried the thick phyllodes of the wattle branch till they had 
curled and ruptured the silken tissues, so that the whole nest 
was disintegrated, so to speak, and had been entirely deserted 
by the ants. Under natural conditions the leaves of the nests 
also die and dry up after the ants have been living in them for 
some time, but so gradually as not to break the silken sutures. 
When one realizes the great expenditure of labor and 
valuable material in constructing one of these nests, one is not 
surprised to find that the ants are exceedingly aggressive in 
defending their property. When a nest is broken open or even 
roughly shaken the ants rush out and gather in great numbers 
at one or a few points on its outer surface where they assume a 
peculiar threatening attitude. Doflein has given a figure of 
this attitude in Gt. smaragdina, but his figure is not altogether 
