EGGS, BABIES, PUPAE 129 



Eggs, Babies, Pupae. 



DOROTHY. Do your queens sit on eggs to hatch them? 



ANT. No, but the queens of some ants do. 



DOROTHY. Could I take care of a bunch of eggs and 

 hatch them? 



ANT. I'd like to see you wash them and pack them 

 around for a month. You'd have to keep them coated 

 with saliva, too, or they would spoil. 



DOROTHY. Then I'll try to feed and raise the babies. 



ANT. You couldn't bathe them and keep the drafts, 

 temperature and moisture right. 



DOROTHY. How long does it take to feed a baby? 



ANT. Oh, from a few seconds to thirty or more owing 

 to how hungry it is and to what we feed it. 



FLORENCE. Your babies must take cold awful easy, 

 you shift them around so much. You are always moving 

 your eggs, too. 



ANT. Think of your own baby at home. Yes, and of 

 that incubator, if you ever took care of one. 



FLORENCE. How does the pupa get out of the cocoon 

 after its legs are done growing and it is ready to be a 

 real ant? 



ANT. The nurses cut the cocoon open, lift the young 

 ant out, strip off its thin sheet, if it have one ; straighten 

 out its legs and feelers; feed it, and take the best of care 

 of it. The hairs on the pupa often help work it out of the 

 cocoon. 



DOROTHY. But suppose it is a kind that has no cocoon, 

 like yours? 



ANT. So much the easier. The baby changes to the 

 pupa and the pupa to an ant, and that's all there is to it. 



