QUEENS 131 



new home, she will never have such a hard time again. 

 She will have servants to attend eggs, babies and herself, 

 and she will have nothing to do the rest of her life but lay 

 eggs. 



KENNETH. After the queen gets her new colony 

 started, what would she do if you took all her workers 

 away from her? 



ANT. Lay more eggs and start a new colony. 



FLORENCE. Where does the queen store aU the food 

 you talked about in her craw, I suppose? 



ANT. No. Look at her large, powerful shoulder mus- 

 cles. Food is chiefly stored in these. Later, when this 

 food has been used up, air takes its place. 



FLORENCE. No wonder the nurses take such good care 

 of the old queens. 



DOROTHY. How does it come that when I drop a 

 queen, she can't fly? 



ANT. Just before she takes her flight, she is heavy, and 

 often would sink in water. So she can't fly until she gets 

 ready. 



FLORENCE. I suppose that some queens that fly away 

 to start a new colony have hard luck. 



ALBERT. Let me read to you about that: "Very few 

 out of many thousand succeed only the strongest, wisest 

 or luckiest are likely to succeed. Many perish from 

 drouth, moisture, heat, cold, parasites, insects, or because 

 they did not store enough food in their bodies to last them 

 through the starving time." 



KENNETH. I found a winged queen today and gave 

 her to your ants, but they wouldn't have her. Six of 

 them examined her, bit her wings, and then started to 

 carry her away. 



ANT. Even if she had belonged to our colony, our ants 



