ANTS, BEES AND WASPS 165 



by a retinue of workers, whose duty it is to feed and clean her 

 and to carry off the tiny, oval-shaped eggs as soon as they are 

 deposited. The greatest care is taken of the eggs ; they are kept 

 at a uniform temperature, being carried off at once to another 

 part of the nest should the chamber in which they are kept become 

 too hot or too cold. The larvae when hatched are weak, helpless 

 grubs, entirely dependent on the workers, who make the most 

 devoted nurses. They are kept in special nurseries, fed and 

 cleaned, and on warm, sunny days carried out on to the top of 

 the nest for an airing. But should rain threaten or any danger 

 approach the little creatures are at once seized in the jaws of the 

 watchful nurses and carried off to a place of safety within the nest. 

 When the larvae are full grown they change to pupae, usually 

 spinning a silky, white cocoon in which to complete their meta- 

 morphosis. It is these oval cocoons which are collected and sold 

 for feeding young pheasants and gold-fish, and commonly but 

 wrongly called " ants' eggs." The workers pay the greatest 

 attention to the cocoons, keeping them clean, arranging them in 

 little heaps, and anxiously watching for the first signs that show 

 that the little creatures within the cocoons have completed their 

 metamorphosis and become perfect ants. When this time arrives 

 the workers cut open the cocoons and help the new arrivals, which 

 are at first very weak and feeble, to free themselves from their 

 wrappings. At first the new-comers are fed and cared for by the 

 Workers, who lead them all over the nest and introduce them to 

 their comrades ; but in a short time they gain strength and 

 take their place among the other worker ants belonging to the 

 community. 



The nests of ants always consist of a number of irregularly 

 formed chambers connected by a network of winding galleries. 

 In England these nests are for the most part formed below the 

 ground, often at a considerable depth beneath the surface. These 

 subterranean ant-cities are often supplemented by an ant-hill 

 above ground, containing several apartments of different sizes 

 connected with those below by numerous passages. The ant- 

 hills vary according to the particular species of ant by which 

 they are erected. The well-known Wood Ants (Formica rufa) 

 form theirs of pine-needles and small fragments of stick, often 

 recting mounds 3 or 4 feet in height and 10 feet or more in 



