SAUBA ANTS. 



547 



pagating the species. Here they are guarded much in the 

 same way by the labourers, who deposit the eggs in the cells, 

 and finally assist in the exit of the winged males and females 

 which fly forth to be destroyed in vast numbers, the few 

 who remain becoming the parents of other families. 



The female winged ants are of considerable size, measuring 

 fully two and a quarter inches across the wings. The male is 

 very much smaller. 



The royal chamber is curiously constructed. As soon as 

 the newly-wedded pair are conducted within, the workers, 

 who are themselves much smaller, so diminish .the size of the 

 entrance that it is impossible for the king and queen to escape. 

 Round it are numerous exits and entrances, through which the 

 workers convey the eggs when laid. The queen, after the 

 death of her consort, lives for two or three years, employed 

 during the whole of the time in laying eggs, at the rate of 

 fifty in a minute. This will give some idea of the rapid in- 

 crease of the population. 



The workers vary somewhat in size and appearance. While 

 a large number are employed in bringing in leaves and granules 

 of earth for thatching their domes, as well as various sorts of 

 provision, others are engaged in tending the royal chamber 

 carrying the eggs to the cells, and watching over the young. 

 There is another class, whose heads are covered with hairs, 

 and who appear to be employed entirely below ground, pro- 

 bably as excavators or tunnellers. 



Like the Cyclops, they have in the centre of their forehead 

 a single eye, very different in structure to the compound eyes 

 on the sides of their head. The other workers do not possess 

 this peculiar frontal eye, nor is it found in any other species 

 of ant. 



