[23] 



mies, and have been well taken care of. I 

 hate to speak of you as larvae, but as such 

 you perform a duty of the greatest import 

 in this trophidium stage of your existence. 

 Let me explain. From earliest days much 

 attention has been paid by naturalists to the 

 incredible affection ' 4 — incredible o-Topyrj , ' ' 

 S wammerdam calls it — which ants display 

 in feeding, licking, and attending the lar- 

 vae. Disturb a nest, and the chief care is to 

 take them to a place of safety. This atten- 

 tion is what our symphilic community — 

 to use a biological term — bestows on you. 

 So intensely altruistic, apparently, is this 

 behaviour, that for the very word c ' o-ropyrj, ' ' 

 which expresses the tenderest of all feelings , 

 there is a difficulty in finding an equiva- 

 lent ; indeed, Gilbert White used it almost 

 as an English word. The truth is really very 

 different. 



It has been shown that the nursing func- 

 tion — or instinct — is really trophallactic. 



