THE ARMY ANTS' HOME TOWN 87 



tennse the larva, disapprove, and again shift its 

 position. It was a real survival of the lucky, 

 as to who should avoid being exhausted by kind- 

 ness and over-solicitude. I uttered many a 

 chuckle at the half-ensilked unfortunates being 

 toted about like mummies, and occasionally giv- 

 ing a sturdy, impatient kick which upset their 

 tormentors and for a moment created a little 

 swirl of mild excitement. 



There was no order of packing. The larvaa 

 were fitted together anyway, and meagerly cov- 

 ered with dust of wood and shreds of cloth. One 

 big tissue of wood nearly an inch square was too 

 great a temptation to be let alone, and during 

 the course of my observation it covered in turn 

 almost every group of larv« in sight, ending by 

 being accidentally shunted over the edge and 

 killing a worker near the kitchen middens. 

 There was only a single layer of larvae; in no 

 case were they piled up, and when the platform 

 became crowded, a new column was formed and 

 hundreds taken outside. To the casual eye there 

 was no difference between these legionaries and 

 a column bringing in booty of insects, eggs, and 

 pupae; yet here all was solicitude, never a bite 

 too severe, or a blunder of undue force. 



