188 EDGE OF THE JUNGLE 



ever, and the moment the queen became quiet 

 the upset mechanics clambered back. They 

 crawled beneath her, scraped her feet and an- 

 tenna?, licked her eyes and jaws, and went over 

 every shred of wing tissue. Then again ;she 

 buzzed, this time sending only a single Minim 

 sprawling. Again she stopped after lifting her- 

 self an inch, but immediately started up, and 

 now rose rather unsteadily, but without pause, 

 and slowly ascended above the nest and the prim- 

 roses. Circling once, she passed through green 

 leaves and glowing balls of fruit, into the blue 

 sky. 



Thus I followed the passing of one queen Atta 

 into the jungle world, as far as human eyes 

 would permit, and my mind returned to the mote 

 which I had detected at an equally great height 

 ' — the queen descending after her marriage — as 

 isolated as she had started. 



We have seen how the little blind roaches oc- 

 casionally cling to an emerging queen and so 

 are transplanted to a new nest. But the queen 

 bears something far more valuable. More faith- 

 fully than ever virgin tended temple fires, each 

 departing queen fills a little pouch in the lower 

 part of her mouth with a pellet of the precious 



