NATURE'S CRAFTSMEN 



lar action in the posterior segments of the body. This 

 state of comparative torpor was thought to immediate- 

 ly precede the act of spinning. At tliis date the work- 

 ers had become less nervous in their motions, and the 

 female had resigned most of her labors to them, resting 

 much of the time quietly in one place. 



August 16th, the third worker had emerged, and was 

 at once quite at home in attending to its duties. The 

 second grown larva was then still uncovered and quies- 

 cent. Close observation was required to show that it 

 breathed, and it made no other visible motion. 



These observations establish, or confirm, the following 

 points: (1) The manner of depositing the eggs, which, 

 as well as the larvae, are cared for by the queen until the 

 workers mature. (2) The stages in the development of 

 the eggs and larvae are partially noted. (3) The time 

 required for the change from larval to pupal stage is 

 about thirty days. (4) About the same period is spent 

 in the pupal stage, the entire period of transformation 

 being about sixty days. (5) The work of rearing the first 

 broods of Camponotus begins the latter part of Jmie or 

 early in July. (6) About twenty-four hours are spent 

 by a larva in spinning up into a cocoon. (7) The ant 

 queen probably assists the callow antling to emerge from 

 its case. (8) Not only larvie, but occasionally also the 

 antlings, are fed by the queen. (9) The young workers, 

 shortly after emerging, begin their duty of nurses, caring 

 for the eggs anfl tending the larvae. 



Such is a fair type of the mode of founding an ant 

 colony. Details will vary with conditions, with species, 

 perhaps with individual temperament. But, on the 

 whole, the reader can picture the prevailing process. 

 Thenceforward, the course of progress is subject to the 



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